Tantra & the Touchless Orgasm
CHRISTOPHER MICHAELS explores the Tantric experience of the tantra touchless orgasm…
Tantra gets a lot of press for its sexual practices, for its belief that sex is both a symbol and a practice that can transform and enlighten. And of course this is part of Tantra’s uniqueness. Tantric Sex, Sacred Sex is a core symbol and practice but it is the flower of a whole relationship like a plant whose roots are in your heart, whose leaves, branches and stems are the everyday actions and feelings of your relationships.
A central insight of Tantra is that orgasm is more a psychological experience than a physical one. In Tantra we make it so extraordinary as to be spiritual. It is something that you can actively participate in both as a giver and a receiver.
Many people regardless of gender seem to think it happens to them. They are passive receivers of the gift offered, worked for by their lovers. And this is often their experience because they have never learnt how make their pleasure for themselves. Even masturbating doesn’t offer insight into how pleasure works internally. Most of us simply want to get the result. We don’t realise that what we do internally – the fantasies, the senses we use when imagining, the way we touch ourselves – during solo play set our mind-body system up for when we share pleasure and intimacy.
Just as for the martial arts, fighting and the warrior’s path point to a deeper truth about our humanity so it is that Tantra and its practices point to deeper truths about who we are and how we live. On a practical level Tantra teaches the art of love in all its meanings sensual, emotional and spiritual.
Using the principles that govern the relationship of mind and body you can take a more active role in your own and your partners’ pleasures. It doesn’t have to be hit and miss. The more choice and comfort you have with the process of giving and receiving a basic orgasm, the more you can play with the experience, intensifying it, exploring its variety and different qualities. To this end we learn about the rituals of seduction, the anatomy of ecstasy, clarity of boundaries and peace with beingness.
A touchless orgasm can, in a practical and pleasurable way, demonstrate and teach the psychological elements of orgasm through body-connected imagination, introducing aspects of energy as a subtle physical expression our connections and as an exciting game to share. A side issue is the power of voice and the right way of talking in order to influence others. Finally it really shows that the greatest aphrodisiac is between your ears.
The aim is to connect the focussed attention of your partners with their feelings, memories, fantasies, the sexual symbolic system and their real experience in the moment to actively create an orgasm. This is not really an experience that you can learn from a book or website because there is so much more to it than the words you use. It is knowledge we share in our workshop or through one-on-one and with couples. It is about the whole person and their relationship with their body and their partners.
Christopher Michaels facilitates workshops, intensives, courses and one-on -one guidance for people who want experience the transformative power of Tantra. For more info check out http://deepconnecttantra.com
What other people say about Tantra:
Tantra deals primarily with spiritual practices and ritual forms of worship that aim at liberation from ignorance and rebirth, the universe being regarded as the divine play of Shakti and Shiva. In “left-handed” Tantra (Vamachara), ritual sexual intercourse is employed as a way of entering into the underlying processes and structure of the universe: www.wikipedia.com
Getting Spiritually Grounded in the Material Age
“Robert Kirby reveals ways to get into the joyous eternal present”
Your authentic presence is an indication that you are not “hung up” in the past – the distorted past which is based on half-truths and/or limited beliefs
If you ever experience difficulty ‘being present’ then this may be a recurring theme heard from those who love you … where are you? “What’s behind that faraway look in your eyes? Why do you so frequently split away from the present moment?”
You may respond differently to this enquiry depending on who asks. “I’m just daydreaming” you may say, or if it is someone you really trust you may say “I’m worried about my job” or “I’ve been distant and non communicative with my partner or kids and I do not know why.” You may also experience actually being in conversation with those you love without truly being present.
If this problem is happening to you or those you love, including your children, then getting to the root cause may turn your life around.
Advantages Of Authentic Presence
Being present permits you to live life to the fullest – to enjoy all the richness life has to offer. Only in the present moment do you attain contact with the “inner core” or centre of your being. This is a place deep inside you that’s connected to “oneness” and all the manifestations of love in the universe. It also attaches your soul to the ascending vibrations of the universe. This means you are able to give and receive love very deeply. You are able to express your unique creativity and deliver it to the world with shameless dignity. This a burning desire within you that demands fulfillment.
Every thought you have and every word you speak is an intention that creates your future. In other words your only source of positive creation is in “now” moments in which you were consciously creating and planting seeds for your future harvest. For example, if you are disappointed in your present life circumstances you could choose to take responsibility for your life instead of blaming life or others. Why? Because you now know that you set these dynamics in motion in the past at times when you were in a negative mood – thinking and saying things about yourself, about your life or about others that were fearful, doubtful, resentful, spiteful, judgmental or just plain negative. You created your pain unconsciously by not being present – not being conscious of the power of your own tools of creation – your thoughts and the spoken word. Being present means you are breathing deeply – inhaling and exhaling completely each and every moment.
Simply put, you created the present life you have in the past in other “present moments” such as this one. The seeds you planted back then – positive or negative – have become your life today.
Understanding the potency of your own creative juice is your greatest incentive to being present. Since your consciousness is unlimited then you now have no excuse to not build the life of your dreams from the sacredness of this present moment.
Your authentic presence is an indication that you are not “hung up” in the past – the distorted past which is based on half-truths and/or limited beliefs you learned from your parents.
Being Here Now permits each and every breath you take to be safe, vulnerable, intimate and passionate with your loved ones. Why? Because you are not distracted by unfinished business from the past or anxiousness regarding what will become of you. You permit yourself to truly enjoy the now moments while simultaneously planting seeds in each aware moment for a happy future.
Your business associates and clients or patients will feel honoured by your aware and loving presence. They will feel seen, heard, validated and supported like never before. All of you will be there with them and genuinely interested. You’ll make them feel like the most important person in the world – while in your presence.
Being Present and Heart
To be present you must be grounded in the moment. Grounded means to be fully embodied and connected to mother earth. The earth is the home of your humanity.
If someone is referred to as “the salt of the earth” they’re fondly considered to be a genuine or real person. This type of person is usually physical or hearty and loves the outdoors. In other words, their heart is open because they are “in touch with their inner life” and they share it with others by being present.
When your heart is open you are happy, you love deeply and truly enjoy your own presence.
Being Present and Spirit
Your spirit is the aspect of your soul that is consciousness. It is connected to your most passionate expression of God, whatever or whomever God may be to you. In grounded, expanded states of consciousness, your spirit soars to greater and greater heights of presence. Every fibre of your being is focussed in the now.
It is your spirit that connects your heart to your soul, mind and body. Your authentic presence inspires others to live in truth. This journey is related to being and not doing. This unification of consciousness is your pulsation toward wholeness. It connects all of you to everyone else and the entire universe.
The Effects of Not Being Present
The symptoms of having your attention somewhere other than the present moment include daydreaming, fantasizing, anxiously rehashing conflicts or problems from your history, fearfully dreading or anticipating more disappointment in the future or going somewhere out of present time but not remembering where you went or why. In addition, many people feel overwhelmed with too much on their plate and simply cannot focus on any one task for any length of time. Symptoms also tend to include depressed or unmotivated people with low energy reserves. They frequently do not trust themselves, have low self-esteem and lack faith that the process of life will unfold in their favour. Finally, terrified people who avoid conflict at all costs and feel either unwelcome or, that they do not belong in this world.
If you are a daydreamer you go out of the present time to a place where you feel excited and competent. You leave situations when you feel inadequate. A good example is while reading you come across a word you do not understand. If you choose to skip over it you feel inadequate and then lose your focus. By the time you get to the end of the page you realise you have been daydreaming.
A survey about sexual fantasies revealed that married partners are imagining they are having sex with someone else fifty to sixty percent of the time while making love to their spouse. This lack of presence may account for the feelings of separation many couples experience over time.
When you feel anxious, fearful, depressed or compulsively relive old painful experiences you have left the present moment in a distorted way. The painful memory you cannot let go of represents unfinished business from childhood. The unresolved wound or trauma serves as a filter or reference point from which you evaluate your life. Whenever life presents circumstances that could result in conflict, pain or disappointment you leave the present moment and re-enact the frozen pattern. Although this reality is common for many people it is unhealthy and precludes the peaceful benefits of being present.
Although you may have a multitude of symptoms of not being present, the most challenging would be the inability to focus on the task at hand. The modern world asks us to be super human, effective, efficient and very competent at many things. Unless you grew up in a family with parents that were over achievers and enormously supportive and validating, you may be lacking in self-love, self-acceptance and self-esteem. This can manifest itself in depression, withdrawing from others or lack of motivation.
Your private thoughts may contain negative “parental voices” that are self-defeating. Thoughts of giving up, worthlessness and suicidal feelings are on the rise. Every self-rejecting thought you have and word you speak that undermine your magnificence is like playing with fire. It dilutes your powers of creation and guarantees a future of disappointment.
Accordingly, the symptoms of your disconnection with the precious present are like flags or serious warnings that your life is out of balance.
Why Do You Disconnect?
The causes of your splitting away from the present moment are as complex as the symptoms. Your body’s natural pulsation includes alternating expansion and contraction of the heart, lungs and nervous system. This same pulsation effects your body energy. The bioelectric life energy is capable of unlimited flow which streams or circulates throughout and around your physical body. During
these moments the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual dimensions of yourself are unified. Although pulsating, its potential growth is exponential. These of course are moments of being present.
Think of the flow of your body energy and your entire life flowing in harmony, being like a river that twists and turns but remains fluid, constant and powerful. Now consider another river whose flow is impeded by dams, rapids, white water falls and eroding banks. This chaotic river is similar to your personality when it is in conflict. Your body energy is divided and you are immediately pulled out of the present moment. The two emotions that split or contract your body energy most are resentment and guilt.
Resentment means you are continuously pulled into the past. Rehashing how others have hurt you and being unable to forgive those people. You see yourself as a victim of past experiences and are not free to be present. Guilt is regret over ways you have hurt others. Things you have done or said and things you have failed to do or say. When you cannot make amends, forgive yourself and move on, your soul is troubled. Your guilty conscience pulls you over and over again away from the present time. This is commonly reflected in the physical body as muscular blocks. The body energy, now split off from the flow is held by the muscular block. Since your body energy contains consciousness, the cause of the block becomes part of your denial or disconnection. If the pain from the past is very intense the muscular block becomes very chronic and contracted. It can recur even after deep massage treatments with a physiotherapist or chiropractor. Some people experience leaks in their body energy system. They occur in the areas of the wrists,ankles or throat. You would feel emotionally or physically exhausted and find it difficult to focus. The causes of energy leaks may be from childhood physical or sexual abuse. They may also occur from witnessing this happen to your loved one.
An equally frustrating block to being present and the unimpeded flow of life energy is the physical and emotional armouring of the chestplate and between the shoulder blades. This stems from years of parental rejection, criticism and lack of acceptance or validation.
The physical mesh armouring is unconsciously put in place to protect your heart from more pain. It is associated with emotional numbness, a closed or broken heart and fearfully living in your head. As you can obviously see, there is a strong connection between the healthy pulsation or streaming of your life energy and the ability to focus on the present moment.
JOURNEY TO BEING PRESENT
If you desire to be completely honest with yourself, you realise by now that every time you leave the present moment you have gone back into your past. Projecting your history into the present and future may have destructive consequences.
Your attachments to painful moments from your childhood distorts your reality and causes you to react or over react in similar ways. Your defended state is an antenna that attracts more painful experiences.
Breaking the Pattern
The first step in bringing yourself completely back to being present is to notice the moment between your inhalation and exhalation. This observation permits you to feel that you are safe in the present and that you are not responsible for everything. It is in God’s hands and it is okay to just be.
The second step is to get in touch with your body. Begin with stretching exercises or yoga and breathe deeply into contracted or painful areas. If you go to classes be sure to select a teacher who is grounded and present.
Next, go for bush walks or barefoot on the beach or in a park at least three times per week. You can combine the walks with your exercise routine. If you enjoy meditation or prayer it is better to do it everyday for a short while than intermittently. Do your exercises first to ground you and to move energy away from your head prior to meditation or prayer.
Another practice that creates being present is to circulate your sexual energy throughout your body. The specific techniques are easy to learn from an illustrated book that is well written. This also increases sexual performance and pleasure.
Getting Serious
If you are ready to take swift action then find yourself an experienced bodyworker trained in deep tissue and muscular release techniques. They can begin to gradually release your muscular blocks and chronic armouring of your chest and midback. Cranio-sacral workersare also effective for these conditions. Martial arts classes including Tai-Chi are very effective in grounding, circulating the body energy and helping you to find focus and presence. The challenge is that martial arts takes years of disciplined training and persistence to master. If you are so inclined you will experience enormous improvement in your ability to focus. Acupuncture treatments on a regular basis by a skilled practitioner will effectively circulate your body energy. They can release blocks and build up energy in the weak areas of your system.
In dealing with issues of guilt and resentment, you could see a skilled psychologist or psychotherapist. They will assist you in breaking the mental and emotional patterns of neurosis that keep you stuck.
Hands on healers who truly address the grounded state of consciousness will assist you in freeing your body energy and healing your chakras or psychological energy centres. This brings awareness back to the present time. This healthy state of mind can give you incites into deeper states of awareness and a real spiritual boost.
If you’re open to energy medicine you may consider a comprehensive system which includes psychodynamic assessments, character analysis, diagnosis of energetic personality patterns, charging and discharging the energy system of negativity through movement, breath and sound. For this try bioenergetics or somatics therapy. Finally, to step into a process that further explores energy medicine by unifying the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical dimensions of “energy and consciousness” you might consider core energetics.
First begin exploring your physical body to open up the surface blocks. This may free up the flow of energy in your legs and allow you to focus more effectively.
If you believe your issues are more psychological, spiritual or energetic, then it is best to seek professional help to guide your journey into being present.
Sydney Film Festival 2011
Sydney film critic Bryn Tilly provides a festival overview and selects his essential viewing for the Sydney film festival 2011 … depending on your movie sensibilities …
Now in it’s 58th year the SFF is proud to present eleven days of international features and short films; a wealth of cinephilia for movie buffs and film nerds, cinema enthusiasts and big screen aficionados. It’s motion picture heaven!
Festival director Clare Stewart has acquired 161 films from 42 countries, crammed into eleven days at four main venues (State Theatre, Dendy Opera Quays, Event Cinemas – George Street, and the Art Gallery of NSW). This year’s festival looks very exciting indeed! The program indulges itself by describing the festival as “765 deadly bullets, 200 litres of blood, 143 belly laughs, 113 passionate kisses, 99 scary moments, 58 epic journeys, 33 serene moments, 22 blissful reunions, 16 silent standoffs, 15 dastardly betrayals, 14 screaming car chases, 8 bloody revolutions, 7 lost fortunes, and countless tears.” It all sounds frightfully intense and melodramatic, but that’s the way we like it! Cinema is really just sex and death, laughter and tears, at 24 frames a second.
As in recent previous years the festival is separated into mini-programs called “Pathways”. There are six main pathways; Take Me On A Journey, Fire Me Up, Love Me, Push Me To The Edge, Make Me Laugh, Freak Me Out, plus three additional ones, User Generated, Scenario at iCinema, and Creative Drive. Each pathway has a different theme, technique or stylistic; whether it be documentary, comedy, horror, romance, adventure, political intrigue. There is a retrospective of Hollywood melodrama specialist Douglas Sirk.
Each year there is a selection of movies in Official Competition. There are twelve features vying for top prize with acclaimed Chinese director Chen Kaige as special guest jury president.
There are the usual industry talks and workshops, plus a filmmaker studio series, and this year the inclusion of exclusive Meet the Filmmaker talks being held at the Apple store in the CBD. There’s also what promises to be a very entertaining “debate” between veteran film critics Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton over the clutch of movies that have divided them with polarized opinions.
The official Sydney Film Festival 2011 Lounge this year is the Grasshopper in Temperance Lane that was voted Best Small Bar of the year by Australian Bartender magazine.
Here are fifteen picks for the festival. Take them all with a grain of salt, or better yet, a marguerita.
Norwegian Wood (Japan) The director of Cyclo and The Scent of Green Papaya returns with a delicate and melancholic adaptation of Haruki Murakamni’s best-selling novel.
Sleeping Beauty (Australia) Debut feature from the 2000 Young Novelist of the Year, and mentored by Jane Campion. This promises to be a heady and sensual affair.
Take Shelter (US) From the director of Shotgun Stories, one of my favourite festival pics of recent years, and featuring one of my favourite American actors, Michael Shannon, in a psychological thriller.
The Four Times (Italy/Germany/Switzerland) A rustic Calabrian village seemingly untouched since medieval times. This is neither fiction nor documentary, but an epic meditation.
13 Assassins (Japan) The prolific and often surrealist maverick director of cult ultra-violent movies Audition Ichi the Killer and turns his hand to elegant, feudal bloodletting with stunning results.
Three (Germany) The director of Run, Lola, Run indulges in a romantic drama with his own distinct passion and style and infuses it with delicious sexual intrigue.
Brownian Movement (Netherlands/Germany/Belgium) Stripping bare the notion of female desire, this deliberately designed and minimalist feature proclaims a fresh new feminist voice.
Martha Marcy May Marlene (USA). Debut feature that has enjoyed the rare feat of receiving a directing award at Sundance and inclusion for Un Certain Regard at Cannes.
The Troll Hunter (Norway) Scandanavian mythology gets the “found footage” treatment and promises to be a real nail-biter that tickles the funny bone as well as touches the darker heart.
Tryannosaur (UK) From acclaimed actor Paddy Constatine comes a powerful drama based on his own short film; a study of hidden demons and an appetite for violence.
The Trip (UK) Prolific director Michael Winterbottom delivers a comedy of manners about a food writer inviting his friend on tour of the Lake District. Much acerbic humour and improvisational acting ensues.
Top Floor, Left Wing (France) A deft-blend of genre elements tightly edited into a white-knuckle hostage situation of claustrophobic widescreen intensity.
Kill List (UK) A nightmare thriller that begins as a domestic drama then veers off in all sorts of crazed directions. One man’s set of problems provides for a rollercoaster ride of nerve-shredding potency.
El Bulli: Cooking In Progress (Germany) Ferran Adria’s molecular gastronomy and the world-renowned establishment that houses his wild imagination is the subject of intense doco scrutiny, since the restaurant closes at the end of the year!
LBF (Australia) A highly-stylised experiment “pop art film” based on the novel Living Between Fucks by Cry Bloxsome. Expect the unexpected.
Check back here for select movie previews and reviews during the festival.
For the complete Sydney Film Festival 2011 program and all screenings times and venues please visit sff.org.au There are various ticketing options, and movies are booking fast, so get in quick!
How to Choose a Wedding Photographer
Apart from the birth of a child, a wedding day is probably the most important day of your life. We speak to Sydney wedding photographer RONNY HENDRIKS about choosing the right photographer to suit the right occasion – there’s more to it than ‘meets the eye’ …
Ronny, what personal qualities should people be looking for when choosing a wedding photographer?
People should first and foremost look for someone they feel totally at ease with. Someone who is great to get along with, makes them feel relaxed but is very professional at the same time, it is after all one of the most important days of your life.
The only way to do this is actually to meet your photographer. Don’t decide because you like his emails or the website looks fantastic. That is why I always like to meet potential clients, and offer a free pre-wedding shoot so I can get to know them better and more importantly, they get to know the person behind the camera and the way I work.
All of this with one goal in mind, to ensure a bride and groom feel at ease with me which will create beautiful relaxing photos on their wedding day.
As I always had a very keen interest in photography I started by taking photos of friends’ weddings. I would make these photos into a wedding album and give it to them as a wedding present. The comments I received from that where great, even to the extend that they wished I was there main wedding photographer! Or that the main videographer asked me to join the wedding couple on there location shoot as they felt more relaxed with me. I did this for many years on a amateur bases until I decided, (after some good discussions with my wife).. to go and start my own business.
Is it more inspirational to be a wedding photographer in Sydney because of the fantastic locations you and the wedding parties can go to?
When people think about Sydney wedding photography locations, their overwhelming urge is first to be connected with the key Sydney icons such as the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. But many people prefer a more low-key visual backdrop, such as more natural parts of the harbour such as Parsley Bay, Fagan Park or even in Centennial Park.
Is it better, from a wedding photography point of view, to get married in the morning or in the afternoon?
It’s highly unlikely to have your wedding in the morning because of the bride’s preparations. Also in late afternoon the orange light of the sunset is very flattering to human skin so it’s much better to schedule your post-ceremony photo session in late afternoon.
It’s important to be precise because people’s wedding receptions usually start between 6 and 7pm so there’s a window of opportunity where the photos will be flattering and romantic.
Family Portraits
Are there any secrets to taking family portraits?
I don’t use a studio but you can make a great studio environment in the family home. The key is that children often get bored or lose concentration after 5 or 10 minutes, so a home location is better because there are things they can do.
If you go on location then one of the best places is to have family photos taken at a beach, then I simply follow the kids around, being unobtrusive and taking photos of them as they’re at play.
What other events do you take photos for?
I do quite a lot of engagement party photos, pre-wedding shoots and commercial photography. Also staff parties, baby photography and increasingly I take photos for business people who need to develop an appropriate social media profile.
Wedding Photographer Sydney
For any enquiries or bookings you can contact Ronny
0404 304 984 or email ronny@rh-photography.com.au or check out his website www.rh-photography.com.au
Hypnotherapy: Using the Brain’s Natural Abilities
Sydney hypnotherapist SANDRA CABOT writes about hypnotherapy as a tool for success whether that be on the corporate ladder or achieving weight loss ...
Do you fear success? Do you fear failure? That is the question most often asked.
Many people grind to a halt as they are so fearful of making the wrong decisions or choices.
I find that as my clients work through the various stages of lack of confidence, fear or frustration, they are able to make great decisions as they find their own power. Instead of relying on others to make their decisions, they find that they know the answers.
They gain the courage to make the steps necessary to begin the process of discovering that they can focus on success rather than focusing on failure. Once they realise that they have such power, they aim much higher.
One of my clients had been retrenched suddenly after working for an international company for over six years. This client found it difficult to find another position as the client was unable to see that he could be successful and that he was a specialist in his field.
Once he realised he was a specialist, he was able to secure a much better position with greater benefits and exciting overseas travel as part of his salary package.
Another client always wanted to be a writer. Once she realised that she needed to find the courage within, and all she had to do was to send her books to large publishers, she was able to recognise she was indeed a writer. Her books were published.
Picture this: You have a yummy continental breakfast in your room, you leisurely stroll across to the exquisitely-designed tropical pool, have a quick dip, then go and join a couple of super-fun dance workshops, grab a delicious yet very cheap lunch of baguettes & salads that the hotel’s exclusively providing to festival attendees, then sashay across the road to the beach to swim in the turquoise blue waters of the Pacific … to commune awhile with glorious nature … while deciding whether to spend the afternoon shopping, sightseeing, doing more dance workshops, or for absolute fanatics, booking in for a private class with one of the festival’s world class dancers.
Hypnotherapy, Food Combining & Weight Los?
The method of Food Combining was developed in the USA by Dr.Howard Hay in 1930’s.
Since then various people have experimented with the concept. Not many doctors know very much about nutrition as it is an elective part of their training. Various programs have been developed on this, such as “Fit for Life”.
Since the cavemen days, when they roamed for berries and nuts and edible roots, man has eaten whatever became available in small quantities at a time. When man commenced hunting, they would kill animals and eat meat which might be days in between kills. Mostly they would have had only one or a couple of different foods to eat at any one time. It is only as man became farmers and developed herds of animals, that food was more readily available. Prosperity became the enemy as wealthy people were able to purchase and eat large amounts of varied food combining. The poorer people did not have that “luxury” and ate simply, allowing proper digestion to take place. This allowed for separated digestion of protein and carbohydrates.
People often suffer from digestive problems, experiencing: bad breath, bloating, excessive wind, reflux, bowl spams, constipation, skin rashes, weight increase etc. By observing food combining principles, these will soon be alleviated.
It has been found that, contrary to popular belief (doctors prescribe ant-acids such as Mylanta), many need more hydrochloric acid to assist with digesting protein. Betain is a product that will assist this issue.
Food combining is easy: separate meat and fish from potatoes (eat only vegetables or salad foods that are not starch), no protein with rice or noodles.
If you decide to have Fish and Chips, change it to Fish and other fish, eg Calamari or Prawns.
If you want to have Chips and Potato Scallops (starch), just have that and no fish (protein).
If you want to have Steak, have salad or other vegetables, and no potatoes.
Working with Hypnotherapy and NLP to deal with the emotional reasons for putting on weight, plus the simple method of food combining principles, will make it easy to create a new body which is slimmer and healthier.
Some of my clients have been amazed that once they deal with the emotional reasons for putting on and retaining weight, and using these simple principles, they have shed the weight and continued to remain slim.
Some kick-start the slimming process by taking GNLD products to raise their metabolism and find a healthier life-style. GR2 Protein Shake and Thermogenic Enhancer (to speed up the metabolism) and Appetite Reducer Fibre Capsules (to help create fullness), as well as Betaine (protein digestion) and Enzymes (carbohydrate digestion) have all been designed to work with the Hypnotherapy and NLP therapy treatment.
Further reading:
Hypnotherapy & Weight Loss & Binge Eating in Sydney
Hypnosis for Weight Loss & Food Addictions
Hypnotherapy can help with: Addictions, Smoking, Stress, Self Esteem, Anxiety, Phobias, Health Problems, Pain Management, Addictions, Weight Control, Depression, Study, Memory, Concentration, Sleep Disorders, Sport Performance, Journey work; EFT; NLP, Blushing, Nail biting, Pregnancy issues, children, Bed wetting, Age Regression, Past Lives, Life Coaching etc …
A Match made in Foodie Heaven
When Australian fashion designer Fiona Harper met Welsh-born chef Sion Harwood, the rest, as they say, was gourmet bliss …
Dealing with Rejection
Being rejected is never pleasant. But there are actions we can take to ensure the situation teaches us what we need to learn, and attitudes we can learn to help us in any situation. Here are a few suggestions.
Avoid taking it personally
A lot of the time, the rejection isn’t about you. If you didn’t get a promotion, it could be that the person who got it had slightly different experience or skills. If someone doesn’t talk to you at a party, perhaps they are just shy.
Be prepared to consider the possibility that it’s not about you. Regardless whether it is or isn’t about you .
Learn from your mistakes
Ask yourself: What could I have done differently? What do I know now that I didn’t know then?
Learning is the fastest way not to commit the same mistakes again. This helps you to .
Know yourself
To learn from your mistakes you need to be honest with yourself. Be open with someone you trust. Explore how you honestly feel. You may come to realise that the situation you were in wasn’t the best choice after all, and you are now free to explore what is.
Once you have a new awareness about yourself, it’s time for .
Action
Keep going! Get out there and welcome the new opportunities coming your way. Put those new lessons into action, test them out.
Dealing with Setbacks
What do you do when something doesn’t turn out like you expect?
Perhaps initially you shrug something off as bad luck. But what happens when a setback occurs again and again? Are you tempted to give up? Or do you struggle on?
Albert Einstein once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.
Perhaps it’s time for a change of tactic.
Step back and look at the problem
Are you too closely involved with your problem to see the solutions? Take a break, talk to someone appropriate, or even look at it as though it were someone else’s problem. A change in perspective may be all you need to keep moving.
Evaluate where you are at
What do you have? What do you want? Define both the problem and the goal. The problem may be smaller than you first thought, and once defined, a solution is much easier to come by.
Evaluate the intangible
What are your beliefs and attitudes about your issue? What are the consequences of these beliefs and attitudes? How useful are they to your situation?
Get expert help
Sometimes you need an outsider’s expertise. They may be able to guide you in your decisions on where you need to go next, make suggestions you had never thought of, and give that bit of encouragement you need.
Ready to move ahead? Contact Rob Borg of Lifetime Dynamics.
Just what is Beauty Therapy, and why should I be studying it?
As one of the fastest growing professions in Australia, the team at Freshmag thought it would be a great idea to find out a little bit more about just what a beauty therapist does, though I have to admit, we were mostly excited about the prospect of being pampered for the day…
We were pretty excited when tasked with looking into the Beauty Therapy courses run by the Health Arts College. I must say that while all our work is always looked at entirely from a business perspective, with the main point being giving the world some hard hitting journalism, a massage once awhile in the line of duty goes a long way!
For those who are not entirely aware of what a Beauty Therapist is, they are trained as electrolysists, body therapists and beauticians all in the one neat little package and are in one of the fastest growing sectors in the Australian job market!
‘A diploma of beauty therapy is probably the most sought after beauty qualification available as it gives the applicant a wide variety of skills which can be applied to many different scenarios.’
Treatments are designed to improve skin care and the skins condition and includes a range of electrotherapy treatments for face and body. Because of the nature of the work it is assumed most Beauty Therapists are naturally caring, tactful and intelligent people, and importantly they are also trained to know when it is best to refer their clients to a doctor.
Getting a Diploma in Beauty Therapy is a very forward step in making it in the beauty industry and securing a career which you can feel yourself grow and prosper in.
Due to a growing interest in feeling fit and healthy there has been a growth in job positions for Beauty Therapists. There is also a rapid turnover in job opportunities, making it possible to reach a supervisory or management related role within 2-3 years of qualifying.
“Getting a Diploma in Beauty Therapy is a very forward step in making it in the beauty industry and securing a career which you can feel yourself grow and prosper in.”
There is no specific age which is best to become a Beauty Therapist, entrants are usually anything from 17 years old and upwards while some still prefer the experience and intuitiveness brought to the table by an older professional.
Private schools such as The Health Arts College are often some of the best proving grounds for someone wanting to enter the field of beauty therapy as there are a wider variety of students to learn with and also there is generally a smaller student to teacher ratio, meaning the classes are more intensive and have more one on one time with the person teaching the course. This enables our students to gain a very high standard of expertise and professionalism.
If you’re looking to join a rapidly growing profession with real growth opportunities, The Health Arts College is recognised as an excellent training provider that turns out qualified beauty therapists with an exceptional standard of professionalism.
Also if you live in Victoria you may be eligible for VET Fee-Help which could entitle you to receive the entire funding for your course!
For info about The Health Arts College Beauty Therapy Courses click here. Or for more info on becoming a student with them, click on the following links for kinesiology, aromatherapy, remedial massage, yoga, first aid, Anatomy & Physiology, Reiki and many more.
Stir Fry Live
The steaming wok of Sydney’s fledgling performer scene is a promisingly eclectic evening of raw talent and surprise guest entertainers like Stir Fry in the sensually atmospheric surrounds of Bohem Lounge…
Stir Fry in Sydney
Stir Fry founder Shane C.Rodrigo, a hard-working yet charismatic fellow if ever there is such a thing, has created an event which is quite unforgettable, a pageantry of exotic colour and spectacle which has seen over 350 performers grace and tumble across the Stir Fry stage in the last 12 months.
“It’s a networking night for the creative,” says Shane. “A night where we’re given the chance to collaborate, create and then appreciate a new wealth of projects together.”
Glamour is the mantle on which somewhat chaotic performers rough it out under the spotlight. Some entertainers, such as masterly comedians Ed Kavalee and Josh Szeps, make the stage their own, embedding their hilarious routines on awed audiences, effortlessly becoming the highlight of the night. Singers and bands glide through the show, leaving milder impressions as they coast on well-rehearsed Latino rhythms or infectious pop beats, their moment in the sun part of meticulously orchestrated career plans that often perish on the social graveyard of the live music scene.
Sexy dancers shake their delicious booty in trios, a legitimate cultural perve for champagne or cocktail-consuming artistic networkers, actors and life coaches (strangely enough, there were a couple of actors who were life coaches on the night we visited) mingling with short film-makers (none of them were tall), fashion designers and their stunning six-foot models, sculptors, artists, costume designers, make-up artists, alto-sax players and even a tantric poet (who later delivered an eight-minute ode to breasts – this man is obsessed!).
“We encourage like-minded people who appreciate and support the arts and entertainment industry to come along and be part of this unique concept,” says Shane.
Hope is the currency on which the Stir Fry performers trade, and some try-outs go onto brighter lights (even though the guy who does the lighting, VJ Nathan Garnett, is dazzling). Caribbean singer Sami Williams, comedian Akmel Saleh (recently starring in You Can’t Stop The Murders), illusionist Sam Powers and acoustic guitarist Sam Nardo (it seems if your name is Sam and you perform at Stir Fry you’re likely to make it big), have trod the Stir Fry Live stage on their way to trampling out real you-pay-me-for-performing careers.
DJ Dave Fernandez provides a sentient soundscape as we can expect to be treated to “an explosion of pure, uninhibited entertainment” as Shane crystalises it.
Finally there’s the Stir Fry MC, the deeply magnificent Stevie Punch, flanked by scantily gorgeous dancerettes, hosting the show with verve, chutspah and other strange words. In the glorious world of celebrity personas, Stevie Punch is like Sydney’s very own Austin Powers, except darker, danker and somehow not so self-obsessed. He revs up the crowd to appreciate the raw talent, his staccato style weaving the kind of magic spell which causes us all to put our tongues firmly in our cheeks – rather than in somebody else’s.
For more information on the next monthly Stir Fry Live event, check out www.stirfrylive.com or email shane@stirfrylive.com
Getting to the Heart of the Matter
While the world remains deceived by a limited physical model of reality, ROBERT KIRBY suggests ways to lift the veil of illusion and live consciously according to a more spiritually united soul vision and life energy …
“What the world needs now is love sweet love”, a beautiful song by Dionne Warwick, is more truthful now than the day she made it a hit recording. Most of us feel helpless to make a difference in a very troubled world, however we can make an immediate and powerful impact by returning to the core of our being.
Life Energy
The centre of a human being is the core or heart which is presently very “disconnected” throughout the world. The human heart has unlimited capacity to bring energy into it – to invoke the spirit of God to permeate our consciousness. This is a choice that can be made by thousands of people in the world who perceive and understand the “life energy.”
Without an understanding of the life energy and consciousness, it is very difficult or impossible to “charge” the human heart with all the manifestations of love in the universe. This is the essence of the spiritual evolution for the human race.
The hatred, violence and wars throughout our world are generated by separation. A deep split exists within each person between their body; heart, head, and sexuality and their life energy/consciousness. They see a hopeless bleak world that separates all of humanity by race, culture, religion and material possessions or weapons of destruction. This separation within each person is projected onto others who are different! They blame one another for their personal agony and oppression of their human rights.
In addition the disconnection between their heart and their life energy keeps the world stuck in an objective reality – that blames outside forces for its circumstances. This projection of self-hatred has frightened everyone on this planet who is aware of the pending danger.
But what can you do? You must begin with yourself. This is our only hope! We must come together on a higher plane of truth, however, love, wisdom and humility must begin within your own heart!
How The World Is Deceived By A Limited Physical Model Of Reality
In our physical world reality is perceived as objective and fixed. The causes of problems are seen as coming from outside of oneself. The three dimensions of time, space and matter are perceived as the only reality. We describe the world we see as separate including people, places and things. Matter is solid, fixed and immobilised. This is the human ego’s perception of reality. The mind and body are also separate and illnesses are diagnosed as psychological, or biochemical and treated accordingly. This limited view of reality is an illusion that has been proven by modern scientists as invalid.
Scientific Model of Reality
At the subatomic level the entire universe is made up of waves and particles. Everything is connected to everything else. Matter is composed of particles and not single solid objects. It’s constantly in motion and insubstantial. Matter manifests in your reality as separate objects, space and people. This happens only because their fundamental substance waves and particles, enfold as a series of droplets with a different number of turns!
This has huge implications on a practical level to your everyday life. Since the universe is whole, belief in a separate world is an illusion that creates endless confusion.
Confronting the lack of substance in the universe and in our lives is our greatest source of creativity. It enables each person to take back their power and take responsibility for their entire life. It means everything that has ever happened to us we have created because we are the cause and the effect. It means that every conflict and violation is co-created. There is never a right or wrong person in all arguments or conflicts. Each of us is the victim and victimiser. If we attract violence or fraud it’s because on a subconscious level we expect it. The entire universe is a perfect mathematical equation forever exposing the truth of all humanity’s creations.
Note: Since we are connected to one another, our hatred of other cultures, races, religions, countries and individuals are a projection of self-hatred.
One country’s desire to destroy another country mirrors back its own fear of violence, self-annihilation and separation from truth or God.
Knowing the underlying truth of the scientific make-up of the universe opens us to endless possibilities and the ability to truly change ourselves for the better. We can now choose to release resignation, all negative and limiting beliefs about ourselves and others simply by declaring a new reality.
Declaring A New Reality
Whatever has manifested in your life, good and bad, has come to you as an explicit order you gave to the “whole universe”. Of course it was premanifest from an implicit order which you created by your thoughts, words, nervous system and repetitive actions. In other words, our entire life has personally unfolded based on the totality of our behaviour including our interaction with those we know and those we do not know!
We actually create our blocks, limitations and boundaries by talking about them. Our active knowing and direct experience of the world comes out of actual living. They are not there already! Boundaries come out of our distorted perception of a fixed reality and then we are trapped by our own false creation!
Your new reality can only manifest by your personal faith and a deeper understanding of consciousness. (Consciousness is the never-ending unfolding of your awareness of truth on a deeper and deeper spiritual and scientific level).
It is also accelerated by people of like-mind joining together to create conversation, dialogue and momentum needed to dissolve old habits and negative thinking. We see the world we personally describe with enormous subjective power and manifesting potential because our truth is already pre-manifest in the “whole” of the universe. It is essential that we keep the dialogue flowing by remaining open to a greater penetration of truth and light into our being. A deeper meaning will flow through your group. The penetration of light affects change at the subatomic level. If we focus or try too hard or if we force our will by attempting to control others or consciousness, the entire process will collapse. Your group will be tested for its authenticity. If your group is in truth its consciousness will expand without limitation. If you choose to be the leader of the group then your commitment must be even greater!
Holographic Model Of Reality
Scientists have formulated a seven premise model about the nature of reality as a holograph. The first premise is that consciousness is the basic reality. Objects perceived by our senses are the secondary reality because the brain picks up the energy field of whatever we bring our attention to and translates it into an object:
- First Reality: energy beams of light = waves and particles that are invisible.
- Secondary Reality: The object is projected by the basic reality, that we can see, feel and sense.
The second premise is that everything is connected to everything else.
An event in one location immediately, without time delay affects everything else. It is impossible to take people, events, things or ourselves separately. In other words, nothing exists separately. The third premise, each piece contains the whole, means each part of us contains the whole pattern of us. Each cell contains the whole genetic make up and the energy field of each cell in the body contains our whole pattern of health. All that there is, is within each of us. By exploring our inner landscape we explore the entire universe.
The present moment is connected to all past and future moments, is the fourth premise. Each moment is whole, complete and co-exists with all other moments. Each of us in this now, has access to all other moments.
The fifth premise is that the entire universe is either a wave of energy or an individual particle of energy. The particles are individual and unique events and so are each of us. What happens to each of us and what we experience is unique. Our bodies are made up of light which allows us to change easily!
The whole is greater than the sum of the parts is premise number six. As we grow we connect our “parts” or “selves” together and obtain a clear picture of our whole or complete self. Any group synergy creates a more potent energy of love and creativity than any individual effort. All individuals can then tap into the group’s powerful synergy. Thus the group can access universal knowledge and power, etc.
The seventh and final premise is that consciousness creates reality and its own experience of reality. This means that we experience reality according to our expectations and beliefs. We not only create our own reality, we create our own experience of reality including our experience of physical and emotional health or illness. By taking responsibility for a situation we are no longer to blame. It puts us in ßthe powerful position to re-create another more desirable reality.
The Bigger Picture
As human evolution continues to expand, Newton’s description of a three dimensional universe was replaced by Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and Bohm’s theory of how our personal description of our world creates reality and experience. Pribrams Holographic universe truly proves scientifically that the underlying nature of reality is that we are paradoxically a finite expression of the universe and simultaneously possess the eternal and complete fullness of the universe within each of us. Knowing this is inspiring! It gives us courage, hope and returns us to the awestruck mystery of life. Now that you understand that you personally can vastly change the universe within your own lifespan you now require a model as to how you could accomplish this!
Barbara Brennan, a NASA scientist and a pioneer in the exploration of energy and consciousness proposed a model of four dimensions of humanity. I suggest her model as a starting point. I will then build onto this model the invocation of spirit into the heart and a synergetic approach to address the much needed personal and universal transition to a loving world.
Four Dimensions of Humanity Model
The first dimension is the physical world. This dimension is held intact by several foundational dimensions of energy and consciousness. The second dimension contains the substance of the life energy which includes the aura, psychological makeup, including personality and character structure, and it’s the foundation upon which the physical
world rests.
The third dimension is the level of consciousness where we hold our intentions (positive and negative), the seat of the soul and its destiny or life purpose.
The deepest dimension of humanity is the core or centre of our being which is our source of creativity, healing and connection to the divine. When energies flow directly from the core through to our physical bodies we create health and joy in our lives. When the core energies are blocked we create pain in our lives on many levels.
Robert Kirby is a Sydney-based author, psychotherapist and energetics therapist.
Solar Power Rebates – The Best Thing Since Gluten-Free Bread
First of all, confirming the great news, solar power is NOT the Carbon Tax. LEWIS HILEY writes about the benefits of solar power and how Australians can take advantage of it like never before …
Are you looking to take advantage of the South Australian Government’s Solar Energy Scheme which ends on the 30th of September 2011?
With electricity prises set to rise 300% over the next 10 years it makes a lot of sense to protect yourself against price rises by installing solar power on your roof.
With the feed in tariff in South Australia being substantially reduced from the 1st of October 2011 now is the time to act.
“The solar Feed-In Scheme has been extended to ensure all consumers who have, by 1 October 2011, purchased a system and received permission to connect to the grid will be eligible for the bonus. Customers who have received Permission to Connect from ETSA Utilities will be eligible under the scheme if within 120 days of 1 October 2011 they have booked through ETSA Utilities to have an import/export meter installed.” – Minister for Energy Michael O’Brien, Wednesday, 6 April 2011.
Solar Power is Personal Power
- When you install solar power you achieve many benefits apart from saving money:
- Protecting your home, family or business from future electricity price hikes
- Reducing or canceling out your current electricity bill
- Making money by selling electricity generated by your Solar System back to the grid
- Having your costs subsidized by the Government’s generous rebate scheme
- Adding value to your home
- Helping preserve your environment
- Reducing your carbon footprint
How Much Can You Save?
If you live in South Australia you are very fortunate in terms of the Feed-In Tariff
.
Until the end of September 2011 if you are approved by ETSA you could be getting up to 54 cents per kilowatt generated. With a 3kW system from Outback Solar Solutions you could be generating around 5,160kW per year and with a 5kW system you could be generating around 8,707kW per year.
The Importance of Buying a Quality System
When considering purchasing a solar PV system it’s important to choose one that is reliable, has long warranties and is a quality system that will produce lots of electricity.
Cheaper systems often appear appealing because of their low price but produce much less electricity over time and therefore end up loosing you lots of money!
With an A Class solar PV panel you are guaranteed to produce more electricity which equates to many thousands of dollars in your pocket over the life of your PV system.
Inverters
There are many different brands and models of inverters on the market. Quality inverters that have a wider voltage window and have higher efficiencies will convert more electricity that the cheaper inferior models and this means more dollars in your pocket!
Outback Solar Solutions’ inverters come with a 5 year warranty which can be extendable up to 25 years if required and have one of the highest efficiencies on the market.
Cheaper brand inverters oten have high failure rates can take up to 6 weeks to be repaired and replaced. This means you are left without the ability to generate electricity over that time period costing you money in lost electricity you could have generated.
PV Panels
There are many different types of PV panels on the market varying in quality and power output.
Outback Solar Solutions PV panels come with a 10 year warranty on workmanship and materials as well as a 25 year warranty on 80% output efficiency and 10 year warranty on 90% efficiency. This means that you are guaranteed that your PV panels will generate the maximum amount of electricity and perform optimally over time.
Railing
It’s important to have a good railing system to protect your roof from any possible corrosion over time. This is especially relevant if you live anywhere near the sea or places that suffer from the elements. Outback Solar Solutions’ custom designed railing features are what sets them apart from other railing systems:
- High quality aluminium extrusion 6005 – TS
- Anodised Aluminium Level 10.
- Designed to handle our harshest conditions
- Strong quality with 10 years warranty
Why not give solar power a fair go!
Where Do You Get It?
Take advantage of this limited opportunity before the end of September 2011. For enquiries or to claim your solar power rebate in just 5 minutes contact Lewis Hiley on (08) 8127 4015 or 0418 259 838 or visit their website by clicking on: Solar Power Rebates in South Australia
Social Media Workshops in Sydney
It’s Not Too Late to become Social Media Manager…
Are you a small or medium-sized business owner who is so flat out running your own business that you haven’t had time at all to get savvy around Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Linked In, Youtube, or blogging?
Social Media Manager
Or are you the social media manager for a business, perhaps a business who has a complacently comfortable owner who is deply stubborn around innovative ideas, so you’re looking to brush up your own skills because you sense that even if your boss is rolling in revenue now, if he or she stays off social media, it might be a very different story in a year or two’s time?
Or maybe you’re someone who wants to start a business very soon, and you’re aware that you need to get a heightened sense of the opportunities that SEO (search engine optimisation) and social media can create so you can get past that dangerous first year by working smarter as well as harder!
If so, then you’ve come to the right page.
In comparison to the returns that SEO and social media bring to your business, social media workshops are a highly affordable way to get your feet wet without drowning in all the wrong ideas.
Sydney-based presenters Stewart Dawes and Nicole Greentree in fact met via twitter when both had established their own businesses, Stewart after 18 years of magazine publishing alongside 12 years as an online publisher and five years as an SEO specialist, Nicole after running her own successful acupuncture clinic for seven years, followed by two years as a mum and then three years as a freelance social media manager.
Within a short period of time after meeting and working out who would present what, they found themselves in demand from many small business owners who were hearing about their work via word of mouth from their existing clients.
“We’ve been blessed because all of our workshops have ended up being booked out,” Nicole says over coffee in Broadway Shopping Centre, near the corporate suite where they run many of their workshops for businesses. We’ve had private companies ask us to present workshops to their staff, and what was just as exciting was when universities contacted us about doing workshops for their students.”
“While it’s great getting very down-to-earth with business people and answering their many questions about their ROIs (returns on investment), it’s also extremely rewarding seeing students get excited about twitter, for example, which many of them had avoided, and suddenly seeing the appreciation about how it can shape their careers and life paths as social leaders way into the future.”
For Stewart, being a 46-year-old bloke may not fit the stereotype of what a hiptronic social media guru should look like, but as a “late adopter” who got going on it just three years ago, he’s not only met and interacted with scores of people in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s who are brilliant at social media, some with hundreds of thousands of followers, but he understands how business owners hesitate to get involved and are sometimes afraid of what Facebook and Twitter might hold for them as far as privacy issues and even the risk of being sued should your in-house social media manager have one drink too many and defame someone in front of thousands of people.
“It’s risky employing someone who is immature to be your social media manager,” he says. “While I have a few carefully-chosen staff who look after the youth-focussed social media activity, it’s a fact that my typical social media manager is in his or her late 30s or 40s, and I even have a social media manager in her 50s onboard. Typically these staff members not only need to have perfect spelling, but they need to be world-wise so that the calibre of tweets or status updates is journalistically rigorous, thought-provoking and constantly reflects the ethos of the company they’re representing,” Stewart reveals.
“A lot of fascinating issues get raised by attendees of the workshops, including the other day where a 40-something businessman asked if he should tell his insurance company that he tweets because they may have to factor that into their premiums in case he gets sued,” he laughs.
“I’d never thought of that before,” Stewart adds. So I tweeted his question and got a stack of fascinating replies.
Which were?
“Well they were such things as ‘yes you should tell them’ to ‘don’t tell your insurance company anything they can use to manipulate more money out of you’.”
To find out more about Nicole & Stewart’s social media workshops in Sydney, email Stewart: media@sydneycafes.com.au or call 0413 276 780 during business hours. Or there are some dates of their most forthcoming workshops in the right-hand column above.
What Else will be Covered?
Springboarding now off their grass-roots day-to-day experience of being social media managers, their social-media-for-business workshops will see a wide range of topics covered including Facebook for Business, Linked In for Business, how best to use Facebook’s Branch Out and of course the ubiquitous Twitter for Business, including important business-related social media strategies (many common sense but easily overlooked) like the below:
1. Be yourself. If you’re writing about the company, its products, or its competitors, use your real name, and identify that you work for, or own, a company. If you have a vested interest in what you’re writing about — as a shareholder, a paid consultant or employee, a board member, or the spouse or family member of one of the above, say so clearly and directly.
2. Be truthful. Never represent yourself or the company in a false or misleading way. Make certain that every statement is true and not misleading. Substantiate all claims.
3. Be relevant. Post meaningful, respectful comments — no spam, no remarks that are off-topic or offensive.
4. Be smart. Use common sense and courtesy in all postings. Stick to what you know — don’t comment if you aren’t sure your information is correct.
5. Be discreet. Don’t violate the company’s privacy, confidentiality, and legal guidelines for external commercial speech. Don’t publish or report on conversations that should remain private and internal to the company.
6. Be polite. When disagreeing with someone’s opinion, keep it polite. If an online situation becomes antagonistic, don’t get defensive, and don’t disengage from the conversation abruptly. Ask the company PR director for help, and/or disengage from the dialogue in a polite manner that reflects well on the company.
7. Be diplomatic. If you write or comment about your competitors, behave diplomatically. Get your facts straight, and secure the appropriate permissions from management before beginning such a conversation.
8. Be silent. When it comes to legal matters of any kind — including the reputation or personality of any person or organisation — don’t say anything at all. Never, ever comment on anything related to legal matters or litigation, past, present, or future. The only exceptions are the corporate counsel, the CEO (when authorized to do so by corporate counsel or required to do so), or the PR manager (when authorized or required to do so). (This is one of two hard and fast rules for EVERY social media policy.)
9. Be guarded. Protect yourself, your privacy, and the company’s confidential information. Google never forgets, so consider your postings carefully.
10. Be compliant. Obey all laws and regulations that apply to the company’s business, as well as all laws that apply to online behavior in general. Comply with all regulations and rules from any regulatory body or standards organisation. (This is the other hard and fast rule for every social media policy).
As for the cost, this was bugbear for Stewart, who as part of his research ran the gauntlet of over-priced social media events which deliver kindergarten-level information.
“I went to one two-hour event which cost $250 and had advertised it as “Twitter for Business”. However when I got there I was handed their workshop notes which were titled “Twitter for Beginners”. It was a slick presentation but I only learnt one thing in the session, and that proved to be useless by the third week,” he says.
“But there were 70 business people in the room, and clearly most of them felt like they’d turned up on another planet for the day.”
“I’ve also been to Facebook workshops at $400 a day which again spend most of the session delivering education on the absolute basics. Still very necessary for a lot of business people, but you can’t help but feel that people are getting ripped off.”
“A lot of the beginner-level ideas presented generically to a group turn out to be useless when business people apply them because they need to have far more advanced strategies custom-tailored to their business .”
“So we run through the basics but specialise in providing daring ideas which move business people to an advanced way of thinking about social media.”
Social media is … Image Conscious …
After many years of fulltime social media activity working for a wide range of clients setting up many successful SEO and social media campaigns, and with 18 years of full-time media life under his belt, Stewart aka @sydneycafes decided to clandestinely apply for a few social media jobs to test his marketability.
After a few months of emailing out his resume, he’d not been invited to a single interview. Eventually one recruiter levelled off the record with him – the businesses who were advertising for social media staff ranging from $40,000 to $150,000 had a very clear idea of what they were looking for – a female aged 26 to 36.
Just as the fashion world has its preference for stick-thin models, so the social media world, at least as far as the corporatised interpretation, has its preference for the type of social media employee it desires – definitely not a forty-something bloke, even though twitter is littered with over-achieving virtual supermen with followers above the 100,000 mark.
Which raises the question, how accepting is social media of difference? Within social media circles, the answer is extremely accepting, but outside of that, cliches determine who can do what from the conservative viewpoint of the regular business world.
Even old-school media, suspicious if not often terrified of online democratisation of news, has a shallow view of what a social media professional is – in the same way that they’re quick to determine that a geek is nine times out of ten someone wearing glasses, apparent by the Sydney Morning Herald’s recent Definition of Famous Geeks, who include:
Archetypal Geek: Job Heder as Napoleon Dynamite
Multifaceted Geek: Chris Lilley as Mr G in Summer Heights High
Professional Geek: Ben Lee
Hero of the Geeks: Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura in Heroes
Super Girl Geek: Thora Birch in Ghost World
Gawky Rock Geek: Jarvis Cocker
Putting Iced Vovos back on the Ministerial Menu: Chief Geek Kevin Rudd
Three’s a comedy company: Geek trio, Tripod
Geek Diva: Sarah Blasko
Hence Stewart’s urge to deliver social media workshops to people who are feeling disenfranchised by the cool factor permeating perceptions of social media.
“Most business people are not blessed with Hollywood looks, if they were they’d be in Hollywood or maybe a B-grade Sydney TV identity,” Stewart theorises, “but it doesn’t mean you put a photo up of one of your staff who has a significant double chin on a twitter profile which is designed for selling weight-reducing infrared saunas, as one of my clients did.”
“However nor does it mean you put a fake image up of some glamorous anonymous starlet as that turns people off even faster – in that case you’d be better off going with the double-chinned staff member as at least it’s someone real.”
There’s plenty of hands-on education in these workshops as well as information supplied in links to global articles which are at the very cutting edge of Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and internet technology and trends such as the inspiring adoption rates of mobile/smart phone users.
“There’s no question that iPhone, Blackberry and Android users are going ballistic on Twitter and Facebook in unprecedented numbers,” Stewart adds, yet many business people still have their websites in Flash which iPhones simply can’t read,” he warns.
Plus there will be breaking down of jargon, eg getting real about such questions as:
How do you take your social media content to the next level?
Where do you find your audience?
Is content the driver for interaction and engagement?
How do you measure what types of content are the most successful?
Do you have to be funny/out there/wild to be engaging?
Is branded content a no-no?
Currently Stewart’s business divides its attentions between the serious business of SEO, and the supposedly not so serious business of being social media managers to clients from Sydney to Perth – with a particular hit being his outrageously priced $35-per-week social media package which is causing heart palpitations among other social media companies and providers – and there will be a direct presentation of just how a “10 minutes per day on Twitter” package works, so that business attendees can either do it themselves, or take up the option of having it downe for them by social media professionals.
Other subjects covered will include much of the inspiring information included in this page: 50 of the best articles on social media.
To find out more about Nicole & Stewart’s social media workshops in Sydney, email Stewart: media@sydneycafes.com.au or call 0413 276 780 during business hours. Or there are some dates of their most forthcoming workshops in the right-hand column above.
The Twitter Effect: My Life as a Social Media Manager
Sydney Social Media Manager CLAIRE FELICES has developed a niche offering small businesses a daily-activity social media solution for just $26 per week! Here she writes about how she turned gadding about on Facebook into a vibrant career …
About 3 years ago a friend e-mailed me asking me to familiarise myself with twitter and doing internet stuff for him. The subject was even “I really have to get you to do twitter”. I had at that time already created a career for myself over the internet, having been exposed to it for more than a decade as a chatter, gamer, contributor and transcriber.
When I first tested the twitter waters my thoughts were, this just was like facebook’s version of quick status updates. Only on twitter you can change that every few minutes or seconds depending on how often you would like it to. Doing that on facebook is a little tacky and entirely unwelcome.
But overall, my early comparisons, when seen through the prism of many months and now years spent working in both FB and twitter as well as Linked In and recently Google+, were wrong.
Facebook is more of a personal site. The telling of everyday life, what you are doing, what you like, how you view life in general. It is me and my friends catching up, people I grew up with, even went to school with but do not necessarily like. It is like saying hi to someone in the corridor without necessarily waiting for a reply.
Twitter is touted to be the people you wish you went to school with, the cool ones, those that share our interests or have some semblance of commonality. It is more of what’s out there, and getting it out there. You can’t just post something there and people will “like” your post. If I wanted to know what was happening to people I know, I log in to facebook. But when I want to know what’s happening with the world, I go to twitter.
But it doesn’t stop there. Both have business prospects. No longer can it be said to be a fad, these social media and networking platforms. It is marketing free for all. But as a marketing tool, it also holds the rule that if you don’t know your market, your business will fail.
The Twitter Ad-vantage
It is a mistake to think that just by creating a page, a profile or showing up in google is all that’s needed to compete and make a ripple out of this vast internet pool. This becomes the main reason why its best to get a well versed social media manager. It is not enough of a justification that nobody knows more about your products more than you do. Twitter will not benefit you and your company much if all you tweet about is your product. It is not enough that you follow and have followers. There should be quality in your tweets not just quantity. And talk, start a conversation, get a vibe.
True, facebook does have its groups, its business pages that scores you likes for your business page and may also tend to be a bit interactive. But twitter is more in your face, faster paced and with hash tags that if theres enough people doing the same (using the hash tags) makes for a trending topic.
To dwell in twitterverse is to be entertained as well as informed. With twitter you follow a broader spectrum of people, places even ideas or interests. We can lump them as a group, people that inspire, the health conscious, those that provide good articles to read, technology news bits, plain goofy edgy ones or whatever category you could think of.
For businesses, there is twitters immediacy to be taken advantage of. Some surveys are done through it. Specials and must haves that are on a limited time offer. It provides an open line of communication the business and its users. Business owners though must engage in it fully to get the right beat and to not be left behind or be thought of just conforming to the internet demand. Small companies though, could not afford to hire a full time web savvy tech person.
A Loyal Footsoldier
This is where I come in. I’m now looking after twitter accounts for a range of companies – for just $35 an hour. This hour is spread over the working week for maximum activity impact while encouraging the business owner or staff to occasionally tweet themselves (many clients in fact never have!). This gives businesses that do not know where to start on this social media phenomenon the chance to experience it while knowing that every day of the year they are building up relevant, localised followers without having to get their heads around that aspect.
While other businesses start twitter themselves and eventually lose interest or time or just don’t know what to do next, for the most part, my clients just visit now and again, satisfied in the knowledge that they’re getting their money’s worth.
Effectively Twitter is costing these clients just over $1000 for the year, which is a small amount to be paying – and easy to get the ROI back on that – if you don’t make that money back as a minimum you shouldn’t be in business LOL!!
It’s Numbers … But Also Relevance
It amazes me that there are some social media manager out there who rest on the “relevancy theory”, in that they don’t seek to build up followers or fans with any great ambitions because they say that it’s more important for people to have 150 relevant followers than thousands of, er, relevant followers.
My social media manager is from a magazine background, an environment which, while derided as old-school now (he got out early), nevertheless dealt with print runs in the tens, or even hundreds of thousands.
His view, much shared by me, is that the first point of critical mass on Twitter, for instance, is 2200 followers. And this thinking is far from the “all in, none relevant” approach that joining a follower-building network like “Twiends” will proffer. By achieving 2200 followers before you begin to even think about mounting a sales campaign.
Once there the goal must be to double numbers again, and indeed you’ll find a 50% increase in responses once you get past 3300 followers.
In both the above scenarios you can expect that by ethical, organic follower-building, a method which is a key platform of our techniques, about half your Twitter followers will be relevant. Far better than sitting around with 150 followers which preaching a false virtue of relevance.
Here’s some examples where my use of follower-growing techniques that are ethical and organic have created solid follower numbers which have turned out to be highly relevant as a percentage of total followers. The clients are now up and tweeting comfortably now that their numbers have been grown with authenticity and professionalism (and a little bit of coaching as part of the program):
The Health Arts College ~ based in Melbourne so I targeted Melbourne residents, their students are mostly women in their 30s to 50s, and also I targeted holistic practitioners and professionals around the world.
Geoff Jowett of Bodytrim ~ Geoff has a weight loss company and so I targeted not just general members of the public, but also a lot of personal trainers and gyms have been targeted and they follow him now to get cutting edge info on weight loss and his latest products.
SydneyCafes ~ going well with close to 7000 followers, most of them Sydney residents as well as foodies, food writers, chefs etc.
Rob Borg Sales Coach ~ targeted business owners who want to achieve higher sales from their sales staff.
WorldParTea ~ targeted foodies from around the world as her products can be sold internationally.
Peronis Italian Restaurant ~ my newest client, targeting residents in the Parramatta area as well as food media, eg bloggers, editors & influential foodie celebrities.
It’s a Conversation
We have yet to exhaust the opportunities that twitter offers. My most valuable lesson from my twitter years though, is as much applicable on the internet as it is on a personal level. Be not afraid. To ask, to converse, to be yourself. Mingle. Talk. Have fun. Re-tweet!
Where Do You Get Social Media Manager?
For enquiries you can contact Claire via email claire@seotherapy.com.au
Does Your Business Need a Social Media Manager?
Social media management of your business is increasingly a must! Why bumble along doing it badly when you can work with someone who has tested every method & can dodge all the mistakes, saving your business embarrassment & in-effectivity. Social media manager NICOLE GREENTREE provides some valuable insights …
Is your social presence doing your business more harm than good?
So you’ve heard that having a Facebook page, Instagram profile and Twitter profile is great for business? And I’m guessing you may have set up your accounts, posted a few comments and tweets, but not had much response … right?
This is unfortunately a common trend in businesses. You get started for a week or two with gusto, invite your friends, then are unsure of what to do next! Not having a clear understanding of how to maximise your social
media presence and really get results, can lead to a massive waste of resources and an excellent opportunity for your competitors.
Without building up credibility and community in the first place, you’re likely to get nowhere with your grand plans for social media marketing being viewed by your biggest fans as basically one big joke!
Time spent each day on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter continues to sky rocket, with the average user spending 60min per day on Facebook alone. Users want to interact, have a voice and be heard by your business … so are you giving them that opportunity?
Consumers are becoming increasingly savvy online, and are looking to hang out where they can be entertained, and really feel they are being valued.
A Facebook page or Instagram account that isn’t being attended to daily, will certainly send the message that the business has higher priorities than it’s customers. It not only doesn’t care, it has no social media strategies or ambition to build a culture or community among its followers of fans.
One of my pet hates is landing on a Facebook page that doesn’t allow fans to comment on their wall. This screams to me that the business is uncertain of how to use social media well, and is fearful of negative feedback from their fans. What a missed opportunity!
By trying to protect themselves from feedback, businesses are effectively gagging their fans from having a voice. Not a fabulous message to be sending to anyone in this age of social networking.
Consistency also sends the valuable message of appreciation to your fans.
By following your business on Facebook and Twitter, your fans are entrusting that you will be a resource of information and/or entertainment. If you aren’t keeping up appearances, then social media may be doing your business more harm than good!
However, we don’t all have the resources to employ a full time social media expert and maybe not even a part-time one in your expensive first-world country. Investing just 20 minutes a day can really build your brand presence and keep your fans engaged. Alternatively, outsourcing to a professional social media management service can save you valuable time, and get great results.
A question a lot of Australian business are asking lately is how can they harness the power of Chinese social media to tap into that burgeoning economy of digitally-advanced consumers? In some cases they’re hiring Asian social media agencies to open up the entire region.
As Erik Qualman quotes: “We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it.”
For More Info …
Email Nicole Greentree via her Linked In profile or Stewart Dawes of Sydney Social Media Managers for professional social media management with journalism-standard status updates & tweets.
Social Media for Business – New Training Courses in Sydney
Social media courses – what’s more to learn?
by Claire Felices
Social media courses
Social media courses, whether you like to believe it or not, is more than just these two platforms – and even if they are the biggest around, the question begging to be asked is, are you doing it right?
Social media courses provide perspective on how involved you want to get – and leading edge education on how to go at it for maximum benefit. For instance, do you follow by industry or by location or both? Is it all just a numbers game? Should you go after quality or quantity? Can you have the best of both worlds?
Facebook – a Business Page or a Personal Profile? Or Both?
Is there a difference? A personal profile allows you to be more than a brand that they could like or ignore. People are on facebook to get personally connected or be entertained. And unless they have limitless time on their hands, they’re rarely inclined to spend time browsing your page much less your products if you do not start getting creative.
Twitterholics are Winnerholics
Anyone heard of someone’s business closing down because they were hooked on Twitter?
The truth is more often than not, the exact opposite.
Are you one to take note of how many following/followers you have the last time you logged out? Your followers seems to have decreased but for the life of you, you can’t exactly determine who has unfollowed you and why. Clear truth is some people just follow on the hopes that you follow them back and once you do, they unfollow you tomorrow or the next day.
Social media courses and training teach you how involved it can be. The little tricks and apps that will tell you who have unfollowed you, what lists you can make – be it for personal interaction or just a mention on the #FF (follow friday) – even how to easily automate your tweets for when you need to enjoy time away from the computer.
As for why you were unfollowed, well, we all have our quirks. Don’t lose sleep over it, focus on the positives!
Why Bother to Do It Right?
It’ll be a whole lot more fun knowing its done right. John Wooden quoted it perfectly – if you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
To find out more about social media training courses in Sydney, email Stewart Dawes: media@SEOtherapy.com.au or call 0413 276 780 during business hours. Or to leap right in, click here to join the crowds at the next social media courses.
More Happy Geekdom:
Social Media Managers Sydney
Twitter Experts Sydney Australia
Sydney SEO Companies
Small Bars in Sydney
For sad souls such as myself, who came to Sydney from Perth a decade ago expecting great culture and was disappointed and horrified by what I saw, there is at last a scene I had given up hope of ever witnessing in this city. Like so many Sydney residents, my trips to Melbourne were heavenly bar-hopping escapades, but back in Sydney there was nowhere I wanted to go too often. At last, Sydney is developing its own small bars, hidden away in laneways and full of delicious liquors just waiting for your contemplation …
Small Bars in Sydney
Small Bar (open)
48 Erskine St, Sydney
The very first of the new small bars, with the bar fashioned from the barge used to construct the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Ching A Lings (open)
133 Oxford St, Surry Hills
One of the first new bars had a bumpy start, closing after two weeks but has reopened
Low 302 (open)
302 Crown St, Surry Hills
Famous for dessert cocktails, Aussie pina coladas and tapas until 2am
Sticky Bar (open)
L2 182 Campbell St, Surry Hills
Sexy tea room with black chandeliers, a white baby piano and some sleek couches with original cocktails like Sweet Popped Cherry
Pocket Bar (open)
13 Burton St, Darlinghurst
Grunge meets glam underground bar, finished with a roller door and polished concrete.
They say no to doormen, cover charges, “doof doof”, pre-mixed drinks and posing
Falconer Bar (open)
31 Oxford St, Surry Hills
A music lovers’ hangout, serving great coffee, wine, beer and unpretentious food
Bacco Chifley Plaza (open)
Chifley Plaza
For suits, namely lawyers and bankers, who work nearby to get good wine and food
Yullis (open)
479 Crown St, Surry Hills
Courtyard coffee during the day and wine by at night
Time to Vino (open)
66 Stanley St, East Sydney
A refreshing wine bar described as “excellent wines from around the world, without the fuss”
Shady Pines Saloon (opening soon)
256 Crown St, Darlinghurst
A country-and-western style tavern plans to play a lot of Johnny Cash
Absinthesalon (opening soon)
87 Albion St, Surry Hills
Absinthe, and only absinthe. Get lucid before dinner with this old aperitif
Tom Dunne Gallery (opening soon)
11 Little Burton St, Darlinghurst
Balcony Bar (opening soon)
46 Erskine St, Sydney
Grass Hopper (opening soon)
3/40 York St, Sydney
Enter via Temperance Lane
Sol Sutra (DA lodged)
239 Oxford St, Darlinghurst
The Lounge (open)
277 Goulburn St, Surry Hills
For artists. Most staff pursue artistic careers. The Lounge hosts readings, screenings, performances, live music, and photo exhibitions
If you’d like us to review your bar or venue, email reviews@freshmag.com.au
The Daily Telegraph, Sat 26 September 2009:
TINY bars tucked away in the city’s back streets are transforming how — and what — Sydneysiders are drinking.
One year on from a legislative shake-up to encourage small bars, a bitter concoction of financial turmoil and a chronic shortage of space has not put off 22 barmen from intimate little drinking spots across the city.
Not just an escape from the sound of throbbing nightclub doof-doof or giant plasma screens and pokies of big pubs, each culture-rich cubbyhole has challenged the beer-swilling Australian stereotype.
Taking its inspiration from Melbourne’s bar culture, the City of Sydney Council enacted legislation making it easier for smaller venues to get a liquor licence without spending tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege.
In July this year, the council gave an even greater incentive for people to rejuvenate alleys around the city with small bars by offering up to $50,000 to approved projects.
Cocktails will be served in jam jars at the premises of 7m Bar when it opens next week. Not so much a “hole in a wall’ as an alley decorated with debris including an old BMW, seven boats and a swing set, the art installation is inspired by what Sydney Harbour would cough up if the ocean rises 7m — the inspiration behind the bar’s name.
At the other end of the scale is Absinthesalon, which harks back to old-world absinthe drinking, serving it pure or in the traditional sugar-cube method. Absinthe importers Joop van Heausden and Gaye Valttila want to bring ritual back into the lucid herbal tonic and demystify the aperitif’s history when they open in four weeks — the drink was once said to be an addictive psychoactive drug.
“It’s traditionally served between 4pm and 7pm, the green hour,” Mr van Heausden said, explaining their 4pm to 10pm liquor licence.
They offer up to 25 varieties of absinthe, and only absinthe, served in the traditional turn-of-the-20th century fashion.
All entrepreneurs have felt a simmering demand for something special.
Three-month-old Pocket bar in Darlinghurst has shot to the top of the modelling circuit with its interior design of street-art-meets-your-nan’s-house and a pledge of no posers, pre-mixed drinks or doormen.
Nearby, Jason Scott is about to pull the insides out of a vacant record store and an old surf shop and bolt on a bar to bring us Shady Pines Saloon — fashioned like a country-and-western tavern in tribute to 1920s US sly grog dens. Aref Jaroudy, of Low 302, thought late food was missing from a Sydney night out and now offers dinner until 2am.
Owners agree the lounge-room size intimacy means better behaved clientele.
“We get the best blend of people, who can come to a place where they don’t feel harassed or intimidated,” Sticky Bar’s Michael Fantuz told The Daily Telegraph.
Demand for more hole-in-the-wall drinking venues continues to grow, with seminars on starting a bar in Sydney booked out.
Best Nightclubs in Sydney:
Arq Nightclub
16 Flinders St, Darlinghurst 9380 8700
The Basement
29 Reiby Pl, Sydney 9251 2797
Bristol Arms
82 Sussex St, Sydney 9262 5491
Carmen’s Nightclub
590 Kingsway, Miranda 9524 0398
Cave Nightclub
Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont 9566 4755
Chinese Laundry
3 Slip St, Sydney 9299 1700
City Live
Bent St, Fox Studios 9358 8000
Embassy Nightclub
16 Cross St, Double Bay 9328 2200
Gas Nightclub
477 Pitt St, Haymarket 9211 3088
Globe Nightclub
King Head Tavern. 60 Park St Sydney 9264 4844
Home Nightclub
Cockle Bay Wharf, 101 Wheat Rd Darling Harbour 9266 0600
IceBox
2 Kellet St, King Cross 9331 0058
Jackson’s On George
176 George St. Sydney 9247 2727
The Phoenix
34 Oxford St, Darlinghurst
Tank Nightclub
3 Bridge La, Sydney 9251 9933
Yu
171 Victoria St, Potts Point 9358 6511
The Bank
129 Pitt St, Sydney 9230 0521
Castle Hill Tavern
25 Victoria Ave, Castle Hill
Castles Nightclub
114 Castleraegh St, Sydney 9261 2238
Club 77
77 William St, King Cross 9361 4981
Club 209
209 Queen St, Campbelltown 4628 4283
Club Sydney
122 Pitt St, Sydney 9233 2171
Eden Nightclub
88 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 9331 5314
EP1
1 Earl Pl, Potts Point 9358 3990
Goodbar
11a Oxford St, Paddington 9360 6759
Jupiters Nightclub
Rear253 Windsor St, Richmond 4588 5594
Luna Lounge
176 George St, Sydney 9247 2727
M X Nightclub
Hunter St (Cnr Burdett St ). Hornsby 9477 5555
Metropolis Nightclub
Mount St, North Sydney 9954 3599
N V Nightclub
Lvl 1, 163 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 9360 5666
Nakita
104 Bathurst St, Sydney 92839199
Rogues Nightclub
Oxford St (Cnr Riley St) Darlinghurst 9380 9244
Shelbourne Hotel
Market St (Cnr Sussex St) Sydney 9267 3100
Sugareef Nightclub
20 Bayswater Rd, Kings Cross 9368 0763
Tantra
169 Oxford St, East Sydney 9331 7729
Tracks Nightclub
58 Beecroft Rd, Epping 9876 1855
GoodBar
11a Oxford St, Paddington
Zen
22 Bayswater Rd, Kings Cross 9358 4676
Rogues
16 Oxford Square, Sydney 9380 9244
DCM
33 Oxford St, Darlinghurst
The Pavilion Hotel
580 George St, Sydney
Shiatsu in Sydney
Here’s our recommendation of excellent Shiatsu massage therapists in Sydney:
Natural Beauty Clinic
(Yoshihiro Nakamura)
Shop 6A, 211 Ben Boyd Rd,
Neutral Bay 2089
Mob 0412 357 259
Trained in Japan, 12years experience in Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Massage (specializing in Shiatsu) trained in Japan. Also has extensive experience as a professional trainer in Japan.
Linda Zivnustkova
Sydney CBD
0405 673 113
parivartanam@hotmail.com
Shiatsu and Zen Shiatsu Therapy. Practitioner of Energetic Bodywork, Herbology, Reflexology, Meditation, Nutrition, Tai Chi, Yoga, Qi Gong and Reiki. Trained in the Czech Republic, Australia and the USA. Robust diagnostic techniques for the treatment and healing of digestion problems, PMS, chronic or acute pains, stress and/or emotion-related symptoms.
Somatonic Shiatsu
(Pedro Campiao)
Energetic bodymind alignment.
Flat4/14 Hunter St, Lewisham
Home 02 9568 3170 Mob 0402 632 541
Treatments may include: Moxibustion, Cupping, Reiki, Chakra Toning, Chinese Patent Herbs, Nutrional Guidance, Counselling.
Phillip Howard
37 Brown St, St Peters
Home 02 9557 2428 Treatment at clients home is also possible.
15 years experienced Shiatsu and Reiki practitioner. Teaching Course “SHIATSU THE ART OF TOUCH” available. Mon-Fri.
Elziby Jenkinson
Home and Mobile based in Elizabeth Bay.
Home 02 9356 2345 Mob 0405 493 889
Elzibyjen@yahoo.com
South African trained in Toru Namikoshi Shiatsu, Chris Starmer’s Reflexology Footology (Reading of Feet) as well as Indian Head Massage and Lymphatic Drainage.
Cornelia F. Wiesemueller
269 Bronte Rd, Waverley Alternative Health Clinic/Shop
0416 149 585 or 02 9365 2989
Japanese Zen Shiatsu, Corrective Yoga, Meditation, QiGong, Meridian
Therapy, Holoenergetic Rebalancing, Holotropic Breath Therapy, Wholefood
Medicine, Personal Health Coaching, Consulting.
More on Shiatsu:
Shiatsu Massage is a traditional healing art developed in Japan a century ago based on traditional 3000-year-old Chinese medicine. It combines massage, stretching, gentle physical manipulation and pressure along channels called meridians.
Acupuncture also uses these meridians and pressure points to balance the body’s energy, called “Ki” or “Chi”.
Each meridian mirrors a particular organ function. When the meridians are balanced, the tissue, muscles, nerves, metabolism and emotions are balanced.
Shiatsu in Japanese means finger pressure. The practitioner uses her/his fingers and also palms, elbows and sometimes even feet to unblock and stimulate the flow of energy.
Western medicine diagnoses illness by measuring any particular internal element as a deficiency, excessiveness or the occurrence of visible abnormal cell growth. Can this condition be called “normal”, however, before the excessiveness, deficiency or abnormality occurs?
Dirty Water:
Consider the human body to be an empty glass. The society in which we live, the food we eat and the emotional stages we endure cause us to take lots of stress and toxins into the body, almost as if we are pouring dirty water into the glass. This ‘dirty water’ unbalances the body.
We do have natural healing power to fix these bodily imbalances and many of the body’s organs help detoxification. We eliminate toxins through the skin, by sweating, and through urine/excrement etc. When we take too many toxins or when our natural healing abilities and body functions weaken, the amount of ‘dirty water’ increases. When the ‘glass’ gets full, it starts to overflow.
Now symptoms appear. The overflowed ‘dirty water’ shows up maybe as a deficiency or excessiveness of something, a headache, a stomach ache, eczema, acne or abnormal cell growth etc.
All of these symptoms are messages from the body conveying the message that something is happening inside the body. The body is asking your help.
Even if the ‘glass’ has not yet begun to overflow, the ‘dirty water’ can still be there. It’s merely is not visible yet. Medicine places a lid on the ‘glass’ to cover this ‘dirty water’. Medicine might give temporary release from the pain to the point where it seems as if the problems are gone – but does that mean ‘dirty water’ is gone from the glass? The answer is no. Even if you put a lid on the ‘glass’, the ‘dirty water’ still exists and it may overflow again. The symptoms may be different next time.
Eastern Medicine – including Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Shiatsu Massage – increases the body’s self-healing power and bodily functions so the body can detoxify properly and restore the body’ healthy energy flow– it is actually preventive medicine which ensures the body is less likely to have toxins and that balance is restored.
Causes of Illness:
Eastern Medicine believes illness is caused by disharmony between nature and the human body and mind. When the body loses its energy, balance is affected by three different causes.
Nai-In(Internal cause) eg: drastic change of seven emotions. Anger, Joy, Pensiveness, Anxiety, Fear, Fright and Grief. When these emotions are excessive or last a long time then the body’s powers of resistance are incapable of restoring the balance.
Gai-In(External cause) eg: The natural environmental change. The six Pernicious Influences. Wind, Cold, Heat, Dampness, Dryness and Summer Heat. When the body loses its adaptability to environmental changes.
Funai-Gai-In (Others) eg: Injury, Diet, Excess or lack of sex, Accident, Overwork, Pollution, Drugs etc.
When those Internal, External and other factors affect the body, the body loses its Ying /Yang balance and also the balance of the five elements within the body so “Ki” stops flowing freely and this then produces a symptom- according to Chinese Philosophy.
Yin/Yang are the two mutually contradictory properties of all phenomena. They are manifested everywhere and all movement and changes are between them.
- Yin: earth, shadow, cold, female, passive, interior, back, inward, decrease
- Yang: heaven, light, heat, male, active, exterior, front, outward, increase
The organs in our body also belong to either of them and they are related each other to maintain balance.
Five elements are seen in the splitting of Yin and Yang into more tangible components – Wood , Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. They are related in a creating and controlling cycle.Eastern Medicine diagnosis is conducted according to the 4 Diagnostic Techniques :
- Observation: The colour and the structure of the face, tongue and the body
- Listening: The sound of voice and breathing
- Interview: Determining medical history, life style, heredity, and symptoms.
- Touch: Feeling pulse, body temperature and tenderness or pressure.
Shiatsu Massage Practice:
Shiatsu massage is especially concerned with touch diagnosis of the Abdominal area (Hara Diagnosis). This was originally developed in Japan and subsequently made its way to China some time afterwards. The aim of Eastern Medicine is to increase vital self-healing and to restore the patient’s harmony with nature by adjusting Yin/Yang and the five elements in the body – so s/he can communicate with his/her own body and find the cause of the illness in her/his lifestyle.
The session is carried out fully clothed. This procedure once took place on a Futon mat at floor level back in old days when massage tables were not readily available. It is currently possible to receive Shiatsu while sitting on a chair or lying on a massage table.
People wonder whether Shiatsu Massage is painful. This is probably because there are some practitioners who believe stiffness in the muscles needs to be targeted and attacked roughly – but it doesn’t necessarily have to be painful. If the body is already in pain, why should we give it more?Healing Hands:
The word “Teate” in Japanese (literally means Healing, Treatment) simply means “press hands” or ” hands touch”. I believe that everybody must have experienced the power of healing hands at least one time in their lives. Imagine when you were child, when you were in pain for any reason, your mother touched the area where you were in pain and in a little while the pain just went away and you felt much better afterwards.
Alternatively you might simply place your hand on your head or stomach when you have a headache or stomach ache? This is the healing power we all have.
It is because we unconsciously know we have this healing power and where to put our hands when we are in pain. This is the basis of many of the touching therapies. Causing additional pain is not required. Muscle stiffness, abnormal cells and illnesses are not things that are built in a day then do not expect then to disappear instantly like magic.
Take your time and communicate with your body to find out what the cause of the illness is first. Do not try to just kick them out. They are part of you. Talk to yourself and give your love to every part of yourself. The body took time and gave you a signal asking you to recognize the disharmony with nature that eventually caused the illness. Let your body take time to heal it. What the body need is reformation not aggressive revolution. Revolution always creates chaos in our lives. The most important thing is to communicate with yourself and improve the problems within your life style. Shiatsu Massage is designed to balance your energy and give you the opportunity to communicate with your body.
WOOD
Season: Spring
Colour: Blue/Green
Yin Organs: Liver
Yang Organs: Gall Bladder
Taste: Sour
FIRE
Summer
Red
Heart
Small Intestine
Bitter
EARTH
Indian Summer
Yellow
Spleen
Stomach
Sweet
METAL
Autumn
White
Lungs
Large Intestine
Pungent
WATER
Winter
Black
Kidney
Bladder
Salty
(The knowledge and understanding of these theories is essential to making a proper diagnosis.)
Article by Ayumi Sato.
SharePoint risks and dangers
Having your office adopt its own intranet social media for work purposes, Sharepoint, is often a great idea. But are there risks and dangers? Sydney Sharepoint developer MARCUS DERVIN explores the subject…
SharePoint is a very structured and secure platform, which is as safe as having a Shared Drive with permissions on it. It is very rare to come across a folder that you have access to on a Shared Drive that you shouldn’t have. And SharePoint is much the same way. However, there is a major risk with SharePoint, one I see again and again, and that is that people running SharePoint don’t know how to use it.
I have seen situations where everyone is entered as a Site Collection Administrator. This is extraordinary, as they have the power to delete sites, destroy information, completely deface sites and often then don’t even know how to edit a page. So why do they need this level of access? Admittedly this is usually for smaller organisations, but large companies can also feel the pain if inappropriate permissions handling.
Once someone is given the responsibility of managing a site, like a team site, normally they are given rights over permissions also. This is fine, but what if sensitive information is stored on the site. This happened once while I was on site with a very large bank in Australia. Someone put a very sensitive document on a SharePoint team site, and hid it from view. Of course the search crawl picked it up, and displayed it as a result depending on the search term entered. There was an enormous kerfuffle, and warnings emails were sent to the entire organisation on the dangers of posting files onto SharePoint.
Again it wasn’t SharePoint’s fault, just the person’s lack of knowledge. Therein lies the SharePoint dilemma. A great platform capable of delivering great benefits, but in the hands of people who don’t know it in depth, can be devastating. But then if you lock it down so much that people can’t collaborate, load information and share, then there is no point in using it at all.
What is the answer? Governance, more governance? Of course a governance framework is important, otherwise people will create a plethora of sub sites and chaos will reign. But even with a good framework, is governance the only answer? I don’t think so, it’s too hard to manage. You need an excellently oiled machine to be on top of all of the content created with approvals and workflows on everything. It’s just not possible without tying up the organisation in bureaucracy. So where is the balance?
In my opinion, you need to educate people well, get them supporting each other, and make some clear guidelines. Have a few simple bullets, messages, stickers, whatever works to remind people to use permissions properly in SharePoint. Especially in SharePoint 2013, Microsoft has made it a lot easier to share information to people by just typing their name. You no longer need to ask the site owner to change permissions. You can easily do that yourself, even sharing files with people outside your organisation.
So for me, the risk and danger of using SharePoint is having staff uneducated in SharePoint managing sensitive material in SharePoint. SharePoint itself is not the problem.
One other risk, which is common across all IT platforms, is having a proper backup and disaster recovery process. SharePoint administrators know how to take care of environments, but if the right people aren’t looking after things, not even backups will save you. You need to know what you are backing up, will a VM snapshot do? Will backing up the database? What about the code?
How often do you perform backups? Do you perform incremental or full or both?
Also, if for example 1 server in a farm goes down, do you have mirroring? What is the cost to the organisation to have SharePoint down for an hour, a day, a week? It’s crucial to answer these questions and deal with them properly. No-one is concerned about these things until something goes wrong. I worked for a company in 2000 where I saw a colleague get frogmarched out of the building because his backups weren’t able to be restored when there was a failure. And just today I spoke with a SharePoint administrator who was setting up backups in his new role as they hadn’t been configured by his predecessor.
Again, the risk comes down to people with a lack of knowledge, rather than SharePoint itself.
So make sure you have the right resources, or the right consultancy supporting you, or you could be courting SharePoint disaster.
Actual Sex in Mainstream Cinema
Bryn Tilly writes on the world’s hottest current sex in cinema trends …
Sex in cinema has been around for donkey’s years.
In fact, ever since moving pictures first started being produced and distributed early in the 20th century there were blue movies (also known as stag films, skin flicks, etc). But sex in the cinema maintained two separate paths. There was the soft core and the hard core. The soft core (nudity and simulated sex) has been focused in the mainstream, while the hard core has remained underground. Well, that is until the early 70s.
In 1972 a film called Deep Throat (arguably the most profitable film ever made – it cost $24,000 and by mid-73 it had made $5 million) became the first hard core movie to play successfully to mainstream audiences in respectable cinemas. In fact it was around this time that the term “porn chic” was coined, referring to all the hip and trendy couples that were seeing the film in droves.
This release spawned a short and intense period where independent adult movies were being distributed and screened theatrically, and making profit. Other titles included Behind The Green Door (72), The Devil In Miss Jones (73), Resurrection Of Eve (73), and High Rise (73).
It wasn’t long though before producers realised they could make more money by releasing two versions of the same film; an R-rated version and an X-rated. Flesh Gordon (74) and Alice In Wonderland (76) were two such examples.
These two films were in fact two of the most expensive adult productions of the time, until Caligula was released in 1981.
It was the explosion of the home video market in the late 70s that quickly killed the theatrical adult movie. But it made perfect sense. Audiences could now safely indulge, privately or with guests, in whatever aroused their fancy, and not have to squirm in the narrow seats of a darkened cinema in close proximity to total strangers.
Cinematic sex however remained as potent as ever. And it was during the mid-70s that hard core sexuality crossed over into the mainstream.
Nagisa Oshima’s In The Realm Of The Senses (1976 – pictured), a Japanese period piece about an S&M relationship between a servant girl and her master, broke new ground with its depiction of intense physical love.
Outside of the adult movies mentioned earlier, this was the first time wide audiences had witnessed fellatio, cunnilingus and intercourse in such graphic detail (although the Swedish films Thriller (74) and Breaking Point (75) had splashed sleazy graphic sex prior to this).
In The Realm Of The Senses was, however, an art film and its international distribution was limited. But because of the director’s passionate conviction, the strong production values, and the powerful, emotive acting, the film received high praise from the critics – and to this day remains a cult classic. Even Madonna has been quoted as calling it the most erotic film she’s ever seen.
When Penthouse magazine produced Caligula (pictured) the bar was raised. But it came at a difficult period. Ronald Reagan was US president and conservatism was being forced upon America. The film was released in two versions; R and X-rated. Neither of which made much money.
Despite sporting lavish production values, cavorting Penthouse Pets, distinguished stage actors (albeit some of them unaware they were acting in a hardcore movie), and based on a fascinating, yet controversial historical figure, Caligula’s on-screen decadence returned a flaccid response from the public.
Through the 1980s and 1990s the porn underground thrived, while mainstream sex ducked and swerved, most of it ending up on the cutting room floor. It was the Europeans that continued pushing the boundaries. Still, it was peeks and flashes.
Dutch director Paul Verhoeven (later to go on to a more successful, but ultimately tamer, Hollywood career) had made several films where the portrayal of sex on screen had been adventurous and provocative, films such as Turkish Delight (73), The Fourth Man (83) and even Flesh + Blood (85).
Hardcore reared its head in several Euro productions; fellatio in Verhoeven’s Spetters (1981 – pictured), and Italian productions Devil In The Flesh (86), and The Man-Eater (99). Klaus Kinski thrusted convincingly in the French-Japanese bordello delve Fruits Of Passion (81). While Italian stylist Tinto Brass (who shot Caligula) caressed and fondled his own form of soft-going-on-hard titles such as All Ladies Do It (92) and The Voyeur (94).
It wasn’t until the late 1990s and into the 21st century that hard core sex in cinema started to become recognised as legitimately artistic, and with a wider appeal than ever before.
The French came out with guns blazing. Gaspar Noe’s I Stand Alone (97) and later Irreversible (2002 – pictured) had a dark sexuality burning fiercely and uncompromisingly.
Catherine Breillat’s misanthropic attacks; Romance (99), For My Sister! (01), and Anatomy Of Hell (04) all depict various levels of graphic sexuality; everything from bland oral sex to perverse penetrative sex. There was Life Of Jesus (97) with its bleak adolescent carnality. And then there was Patrice Chereau’s un-erotic Intimacy (01) with New Zealand actress Kerry Fox briefly putting a penis in her mouth.
In the Spanish/French romantic drama Sex And Lucia (01) the passionate, lusty behaviour of Lucia and her lover Lorenzo is refreshingly candid and imaginatively arousing. Although there is no actual sex, there’s a Polaroid or two peeked at which shows real penetration, and there’s something intensely erotic about this discreet explicit display.
Despite some films’ sexual content remaining intact, there have been many films which the censors, either here or overseas, have decided pushed the boundaries too far.
There was Baise-moi (Rape Me/Fuck Me) (2000 – pictured) which was banned in Australia due to its violent, exploitative violations. As was the Japanese prostitution degradation flick Tokyo Decadence (92) and, most famously, Pasolini’s notorious Salo Or 120 Days Of Sodom (76). Larry Clark’s Ken Park (02) with its dark auto-eroticism and ejaculation was also banned, and Lars Von Trier’s The Idiots (98) had a shot of penetrative sex cut from its Australasian release. No doubt director Gaspar Noe will eventually run into censorship problems at the level he keeps pushing!
But where is the line drawn? Who should decide whether one film is considered offensive, while another is considered of high artistic merit? And what are the criteria? Where does the line between pornography and art become successfully blurred?
Reality TV has a lot to answer for. With the demand for realism and fly-on-the-wall observation escalating, the craving for arousal and confrontation will creep higher and higher. And the ante can only be upped in two directions; sex and violence. Imagine a future where the two biggest shows on television are PornTV and SnuffTV. It may sound far-fetched, but versions of this kind of perversion are not far off.
But there is intelligence and imagination at work. With current maverick directors such as Michael Winterbottom (9 Songs – pictured), Vincent Gallo (The Brown Bunny), Lukas Moodysson (A Hole In My Heart), Jane Campion (In The Cut) and Penny Woolcock (The Principles Of Lust), the portrayal of graphic sexuality in mainstream cinema is continuing to be pushed. The content may be arguable, the intent questionable, but there is no doubt graphic sexuality has a place in mainstream cinema.
Michael Winterbottom argues that if you have a film about an athlete, he’s gonna have to do some running from time to time, so if a film is about a sexual relationship then graphic sex is demanded.
But, and herein lies The Rub, will the A-list actors ever allow actual sex to be a clause added into their contracts? Or is real sex on screen always going to be considered taboo for them, breaking the invisible rule between what is fiction and what is documentary?
This will only leave the brave indie actors, ex-porn stars, or exhibitionistic models to fulfill the adventurous screenwriters and directors attempting to add an authentic spice of life to cinematic sexuality.
That’s not quite true. There have been famous actors who have gone the extra mile, so to speak. In his early career Gerard Depardieu took his clothes off at the drop of a hat, and in some cases rose to the occasion; Going Places (74, known in France as The Testicles), and The Last Woman (76) directed by Marco Ferreri, who put sex and food on the same plate with carnal gusto in La Grande Bouffe (73).
Legend has it Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie’s improvised love-making was on a very closed set in Don’t Look Now (1973 – pictured), apparently Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange were doing a lot more than knocking plates off the kitchen table in The Postman Always Rings Twice (81), Jean-Hugues Anglade and Beatrice Dalle were supposedly adding a lot more heat than just the film lights at the beginning of Betty Blue (86), and Mickey Rourke and (ex-wife) Carre Otis’s sweaty encounters in Wild Orchid (90) were, rumour has it, genuinely slippery.
Ultimately context and conviction is what will sing the truest in the morality battle of real sex in cinema. Mainstream films that incorporate actual sex into the narrative, that isn’t being portrayed purely for gratuitous effect, will continue to be recognized and applauded. Ideally the theatrical films depicting actual sex will be designed for intensely erotic and graphically sensual purposes (both light and dark in tone), leaving the underground adult industry to continue to produce videos for purely pornographic gratification ie for getting your rocks off in the privacy of your own home.
So turn off the lights, and long live the new flesh!
Film reviewer Bryn Tilly is also a very active Sydney DJ, scriptwriter and composer – and writes the blogs Horrorphile and Bruno Dante’s Cult Projections.To see reviews of what Bryn Tilly regards as the best movies of 2009 click here. To have a laugh and enjoy Bruno Dante’s article on the best ever sex scenes in mainstream cinema and independent movies click here. This article ACTUAL sex performed in mainstream (as in non-porn) cinema / movies gets over 100,000 viewers per month – there’s a lot of dirty bastards out there.
Where to Find More Sex
Here’s Google’s hilarious #1 result for the search “sydney sex”.
Or check out Sydney’s best online sex reference, it will help you in your search to get off: www.naughtysydney.com.au
The region makes you hot? Then you’ll want to juice up (intellectually speaking) via the Asian Sex Gazette.
For actual reviews of prostitutes and hookers in Sydney check out Hooker Looker.
How to Decide Upon the Best SEO Manager for your Small to Medium-Sized Business
Jackie Blaker writes about SEO …
Some specialist SEO companies will have us believe that SEO needs constant work, is very expensive and requires an in-depth technical knowledge in order to produce results.
Although to be successful, there is a need to work hard on search engine promotion, much of it is also just common sense and although there is an initial financial outlay, the ROI can be substantial and can turn around a failing brand, product or even a business
What simple things can you do to improve your SEO?
Base your promotion on research rather than instinct – look and see what your competitors are doing, find out how your customers search or use bespoke software to find out how people are searching for your product/service.
Use simple, effective navigation in your website design. Hyper-link between pages wherever possible to encourage the search engines to “spider” the site, and use the keywords in the links.
Use keyword headings and sub–headings across all pages. Use good content that engages your target audience on ALL pages, but which naturally uses the keyword phrases you would like to be found under.
Keep news pages and case studies regularly updated with relevant content, search engines love this.
Make sure you are listed with Google Places – it’s free!
Try targeting specific sectors rather than generic terms e.g. “safety signage” or “school signage” rather than “signage”. You will compete more effectively and have more targeted visitors.
What can you expect from SEO?
This depends very much on the competitiveness of your industry.
Businesses focusing on geographical location have a big advantage with the search engines as they can target their content. Competition is less; visitors are fewer but are highly targeted, resulting in better conversions. For example, at MAXX Design we have targeted graphic design company Berkshire, or website design company Berkshire, rather than targeting the whole of the UK.
What Will SEO Cost?
Consider that you are looking for ROI. Many companies spend thousands on their SEO, however, great organic listings can create unsolicited business enquiries.
Most of the cost is in the initial development of the content, browser titles and meta-tags based on the research into what keywords will work the hardest for you.
This has to then be followed up with regular “feeding” with news articles, blogs, tweets, all linking great content back to your site.
SEO Research is crucial to see just what people are searching for; there is no point being no 1 for a keyword phrase nobody uses.
The text or content on each page should be “keyword rich” – contain as many of the researched words as possible. This content must be relevant and the pages must be dedicated to the chosen topic – you have to tell the search engines what your site is about.
There is a constant compromise between good marketing copy and good SEO copy. The trick is to ultimately focus on your customer, but use good headings and sub headings to help the search engines.
You could optimise your site and then leave it. It is possible to do a great job initially, see a massive improvement in listings and hopefully a massive improvement in visitors. BUT … your competitors will not stand still, your business will not stand still, SO your website should not stand still. If you update content on a regular basis, target the content to the keywords where perhaps you are not listed so well through news, case studies and white papers. Think about how they are linked across your site and consider releasing the information outside your site.
If you are still struggling to get a presence online – maybe try paying for your search engine listings.
PPC – Pay Per Click
Many first time web marketers avoid “pay per click” marketing believing it to be a “licence to print money”. In some regards this is true – it can be very expensive and difficult to track success however it is possible to make the PPC system work hard for you.
Good for getting a presence where search engine organic listings are too competitive or if you have a new site or product.
Highly targeted keywords and adverts create better conversions. Don’t waste money on generic keywords.
Adverts placed to respond to topical subjects can be very effective – e.g. local vet advertising a blue tongue vaccination during recent scare.
For More Info …
Email Stewart Dawes media@seotherapy.com.au for more info on SEO, digital design and social media.
The Science of Human Vibrations
Stewart Dawes speaks to Dr. Valerie Hunt about human vibrations …
Following centuries of scientific rationalism which downplay the spiritual vision of human beings – presenting a bio-chemical view of humans as biological machines, humans as animals, humans as chemistry – recent scientific trailblazing by energy field healing pioneer Dr. Valerie Hunt may redefine the parameters of what it means to be human. Having received a $US 4 million grant to investigate the “scalar waves” used by psychic surgeons, Dr. Hunt is exploring a health model which threatens to shape a paradigm of life incorporating physics, biochemistry, molecular biology and medicine in the 21st Century.
Imagine being able to expose serious oncoming illnesses months to years before they are found by analysing people’s electronic vibrations, which, it has been proven, are more unique to the individual than fingerprints. Or utilising atomic level energy to literally fix disease by manipulating the body’s molecular energy.
Or being advised to live near electric telegraph poles which had caused leukemia in some people, in order that your healthy energy field receives a good dose of “stimulation” so that your thoughts could enter into the realms of higher consciousness – arousing extended states of insight, imagination, creativity and spirit.
If the earth has magnetic forces, why shouldn’t living human beings be charged with energy? Bioscience research lags far behind the atmospheric sciences, yet sources of universal magnetism exist at all levels of nature. Chemicals, minerals and atoms possess electrons wherever they are found, but energy is especially pronounced in living beings. As Dr Valerie Hunt says, “we, like all living matter, are bundles of electrically charged matter as nuclear physics has demonstrated.”
Insight, imagination, creativity and spirit do not exist in brain tissue, Dr Hunt writes in her recent book, Infinite Mind, the Science of the Human Vibrations of Consciousness. Holding advanced degrees in Psychology and Physiological Science from Columbia University, Dr Hunt became exasperated with the chemical medical model which sought to reduce human thinking to a function of neuropeptides and which was stagnating in neuromuscular limitations.
“I was very locked into the brain until I got working in other states of consciousness which cannot be explained by the brain,” Dr Hunt says down the line from California. “The brain handles many of the biological things but it doesn’t handle the thing which we are saying is the highest level of human consciousness.
“It is the mind which experiences and it is the brain which records the experience … the brain can store memory, but it is the mind which makes decisions. The mind is independent and contains the will of humankind.
“In other words, the mind takes the initiative in exploring the environment, enters into transactions and is aware of what is going on … it comprehends, reasons, has judgement and is aware of self.
“The mind is the stream of consciousness.”
SCIENCE AND THE ENERGY FIELD
Quantum physics tells us that material substances are composed not only of observable matter, but also more subtle field components with organized energy patterns, boundaries and definitions. The deeper one probes into physical substance the more one encounters the underlying electrical energy or the energy field. All material substances, tree, rock or animal, have electrical fields because all are composed of particles, atoms and cells. Each of these fields is in constant dynamic equilibrium. The less dense a substance, the more energetic the field with a greater density to create a force.
As Dr Valerie Hunt says, the energy field is the primary source of the interaction of a person with her/his environment. Whatever happens to you, it is your field that gets influenced ahead of anything in the nervous system or brain.
“Our energy field data carries one thousand to ten thousand greater frequency information per second than neurological frequency data. Our energy field carries the same times amount more information about the health of our body, or the disease of our body than any other neurological or pathological information from our chemistry or tissues.
“A rich, stable energy field is a healthy field,” Dr Hunt summarizes.
“The energy fields of healthy people are coherent, synchronous, but unwell people’s auras are demonstrably incoherent.
“What I have found by measuring people’s auras is that disease begins in the energy field and anchors in the cells.
“If disease begins in the field, then health should also begin in the field. The field should be our place of primary diagnosis.
HARNESSING ENVIRONMENTAL ELECTROMAGNETISM
Valerie Hunt’s latest publication is called Mind Mastery Meditations, a workbook which shows people how to increase their energy frequencies, deal with imagery from pain, trauma, surgery and illness, and to prepare the field for self-healing such conditions as neurosensory degeneration, neuromuscular injuries and fractures, hyperactive diseases and hypodeficiency diseases. While grounded in scientific evidence, the text ventures into techniques for imaging your spiritual path, experiencing the divine light, telepathic interactions with other people’s electronic fields, and using the sixth sense to become more in tune with “the biocosmic confluence”, sensing the energies of the atmosphere, stratosphere and ionoshere as well as that of earth, water and living organisms.
What is the basis, however, for her proclamations of the all-important enormous healing potential of the human energy field?
“If I can start at the point of environmental electrical forces, which, in this electronic age, are the strongest, highest and richest in the history of our planet. Electromagnetism is spewed out constantly by the radio and TV stations, high tension power lines, industrial electronics and the many household appliances and gadgets which surround us.
“Now, while most reports point out the destructive aspects of electronic contamination, I believe there are both positive and negative effects. To adapt to a more volatile electronic soup, a higher vibrational mix, challenges the human field to broaden its spectrum.
“Unsuccessful adaptation to higher levels of environmental electromagnetism always leaves an incoherent random field, one in which the edge of chaos has been exceeded, leading to turmoil.
“Humans, of all the animals, gravitate towards stress. Stress taxes the organisation of our fields and in positive cases, leads to greater coherency and higher refinement.
“If we look at the second law of thermodynamics in which all matter progresses from organisation to disorganisation and then to turmoil, according to this law, humans from birth progress to disorganisation and finally to death. But when energy was introduced into any field, its complexity increases, it doesn’t disintegrate rapidly by entropy.
“So when energy is introduced into the body, in becoming more refined it moves upward towards light and life and away from death.
“Perhaps this explains the long lives of symphony conductors, or how living tissue can regenerate.”
Dr Hunt also writes in Infinite Mind about how crashing waves deliver a mammoth amount of energy to shoreline plants – energy estimated to be fifteen times more powerful than that provided by the sun. Such heightened energy fields allows marine organisms, algae and mussel beds to maintain exceptionally high productivity, even greater than that which occurs in rainforests. With the wave action facilitating the flow of light and nutrients, the additional creating of negative ion particles from the tumbling water also amps up the electromagnetic pool, rendering beachgoers totally invigorated.
WHAT MYSTICS ALWAYS KNEW
Yet what about within the human body? It’s on this scientifically neglected point that the ancients’ intuitive knowledge is worth re-evaluating. Ancient Chinese theory tells of an invisible meridian system that runs deeply through the tissues of the body. Through these meridians pass nutritive energy known to the Chinese as “ch’i”. The ch’i energy enters the body through the acupuncture points and flows to deeper organ structures bringing life-giving nourishment of a subtle energetic nature. The Chinese also feel that when the flow of energy to the organs becomes blocked or imbalanced, dysfunction of the organ system will occur.
Similarly, ancient texts of Indian yogic literature speak of special energy centres referred to as “chakras” from the Sanskrit meaning “wheels”. Anatomically, each of the seven major chakras is associated with a major nerve plexus and a major endocrine gland. Connecting the chakras are fine subtle-energetic channels called “nadis” which various sources have described as numbering up to 72,000. While Dr Hunt frequently records her data from the areas over the chakras, she is quick to point out that her findings reveal the human energy field as a more unified entity.
“I see the whole field and we are not so concerned about the specifics of the field as we are the total pattern of the thing. We could take colours and information from the tip of the finger or toe, but it just happens that the amplitude is not quite strong enough.
“Historically in the West, in relying on available technology to scientifically test and validate various phenomena, during the time when we haven’t been able to measure the fine continuous signal information of bioenergy fields, the chakras and meridians were ignored by scientists as mystical constructs of primitive Eastern cultures.
“Increasingly with a new math of nature, with fractals and algorithmic formulas, it’s now possible to describe dynamic, non-periodic, continuous vibrations like those from bio-energy field recordings.”
PSYCHIC SURGERY
“At some level, all material boundaries are permeable. Electromagnetic energy in the form of waves constitutes information circuits which can penetrate physical boundaries and like worm holes, flow through and back into the environment.”
“Now we’re working on psychic surgery in which we’re not concerned with the ordinary drama of psychic surgery, but we want to know if they get inside the body and how do they get there, because this is the physiological thing that we don’t understand.
“I’ve been working with them and they do go inside the body. I’m not concerned at this stage whether they cure the body or don’t cure the body, that’s the clinical thing. “I’m concerned with what is the phenomenon that causes them to open the body and really it’s basically bloodless, it does not tear up the body and we have found what it is: it’s a scalar wave. “It’s probably the most important thing I’ve ever discovered. “It’s a standing wave, it’s not a wave that goes anywhere, it has a standing vibration and it’s created when two electronic waves of the same frequency enter a mobius coil, which is a coil that shoots energy upwards, and the body is a mobius coil when in its ovaloid shape.”
“This particular wave separates tissues and atoms, because as it expands outward, it just expands whatever tissue there is, it takes away the compression on the atoms and therefore the compression on the molecules and therefore on the cells. When this is taken away, muscle tension goes, the compression of nerves goes, which means pain – the compression on blood vessels which means poor circulation and the compression on the lymphatics which carries the immune system. So it allows the body to take care of itself.
“As soon as the laboratory equipment comes in, we will be mechanically creating scalar waves and putting them on the inside of the body with the help of scalar physicists.
“We then can start using this on animals with veterinarians who are doing surgery, let the psychic surgeons show them how to get into the body when the tissues are separated and if it works with animals, we will go to humans and we basically have the surgeons ready to start.
INFINITE MIND, UNIVERSAL SOUL
Perhaps the significance of Dr Valerie Hunt’s work is, as one scientific journal writer commented, “comparable to the discovery of penicillin and the deciphering of the DNA code”.
As for skeptics, people who accept their television and radios working via transmitted waves, but who won’t accept the vast complexity of their own pulsating being, Dr Hunt isn’t wasting any part of her 81 years so far, on those types.
“The human mind is the greatest piece of equipment we have ever had, and everything we have ever done in science since is a replication of what can happen in the human mind. So, when we doubt telepathy, knowing, intuition, we’d better drop it. This will be standard information in the future.”
“I don’t worry about everyone else, I care about only those visionaries who are able to comprehend this … the absolute truth and who will perpetuate it, expecting that the world is not going to change immediately.
“But the interesting thing is when you come in with that level of truth, doubters may fight you for a while – they don’t fight me because I don’t argue with them – but even they, deep down, know the truth.”
“Someone has to break the model which has kept us so limited. When people ask, what do you do, I say I change the model of what is a human being.”
INFINITE MIND: THERE’S MORE …
A significant disease-maker causing biological and DNA damage is extremely low frequency (ELF) power sources which leak contamination in our homes and cars.
Chronic fatigue syndrome isn’t a chemical imbalance, but an energy field problem.
Our energy fields fit into the patterns of all-life called chaos. Chaos is an elaborate mix of extremely complex patterns. Ageing is the process of losing some of the complexity, narrowing our frequency and moving towards entropy.
The human field both permeates the entire body and radiates several inches to feet from the body surface.
Noise is anti-coherent energy which can drain people’s energy. However, more debilitating than the actual decibel level of noise at large gatherings is the contamination of so many scattered yet concentrated energy fields.
The key to overcoming such situations is to develop field immunity to them, to not transact your energy. Homoeopathic solutions work better the more diluted they are, so that the healing agents have more “elbow room” in which the medicine molecule can resonate.
For more information check out www.bioenergyfields.org
A Festival for Lovers of Salsa & Latin Dance
Salsa and Latin Dance enthusiasts and experts alike are warming up for the forthcoming Noumea Salsa & Latin Dance Festival being organised by Sydney Salsa teacher SHERYLANNE McLEOD. We spoke to her at her Salsa Republic dance studio in Chippendale …
“Anyone can come,” says Sherylanne McLeod, of the forthcoming Noumea Salsa & Latin Dance Festival to be held in Noumea, New Caledonia in early May 2011.
Where exactly is New Caledonia, I ask, being sadly out of form when it comes to travel in my own region!
“It’s an island in the Pacific, two-and-a-half hours flight from Sydney or Brisbane,” she replies in her typically breezy Sherylanne way, a positive vibe which has made her one of the most popular salsa teachers in Sydney.
Is it only salsa dancers from Sydney who can attend, I ask.
“People can come to this festival from anywhere and from any walk of life, They certainly don’t have to be a salsa dancer, and they certainly don’t have to be part of the Sydney community,” she says.
“People are coming from Asia, Europe, New Zealand – and Australia of course.
And there will be plenty of beginners classes as well as intermediate and advanced.
“I actually think this venue is going to be one of the best in the world to ever host three days of workshops and parties of this type.”
Picture this: You have a yummy continental breakfast in your room, you leisurely stroll across to the exquisitely-designed tropical pool, have a quick dip, then go and join a couple of super-fun dance workshops, grab a delicious yet very cheap lunch of baguettes & salads that the hotel’s exclusively providing to festival attendees, then sashay across the road to the beach to swim in the turquoise blue waters of the Pacific … to commune awhile with glorious nature … while deciding whether to spend the afternoon shopping, sightseeing, doing more dance workshops, or for absolute fanatics, booking in for a private class with one of the festival’s world class dancers.
Then more beach, sightseeing, or dreamily drifting into a siesta, before dressing up for the superb buffet dinner with an exciting Tahitian dance show- by the pool!
Then … into the spacious Venezia Room to watch spectacular performances followed by a party with top DJs. And if you think you’ll be outshone on the dancefloor, Sherylanne is there to help even the most awkward novice.
“My specialty is making people who can’t dance look like dancers by giving you a set of simple moves that look complex and molding the moves to your capabilities – and only choosing moves that you look good doing.”
If you’re a beginner, what an intro to the world of dance – in such a relaxed atmosphere, meeting plenty of the best dancers you could ever encounter, all in the one place – in an atmosphere of celebration and inclusive community.
As Sherylanne says reassuringly, with a laugh, “Don’t worry, the Salsa Police are not coming to this festival!”
For more info check out http://noumeasalsalatindancefestival.com
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Sales Workshop Communicate, Negotiate & Sell
Master of Rapport ROB BORG writes about sales training importance in the business world to get what you want …
All Goals Start with a Dream.
You’ve heard people say, on January the 1st I will: stop smoking; start a diet; start working out at the gym; and so on. But words are nothing but labels and we label our life experiences with certain words.
A dream or desire, however, needs more than words to turn it into reality.
How then do you turn the dream into a goal?
What we are looking for is action. Here is a saying I learned around 5 years ago: ‘What you do speaks so loudly, what you say I cannot hear.’ Pretty powerful stuff, wouldn’t you say? So to achieve goals we really need to take action – and lots of it!
Here is a proven effective system you can use to help you get started. Go for it and let me know how you went!
Achieving Your Goals
Be absolutely clear about what it is that you want. Get certainty and clarity.
Unsure? Try the exercise below!
Set a time frame of when you want to achieve your outcome by.
Devise a strategic plan which will take you to your destination.
Take action – begin the challenge right NOW and make it happen.
Increase your awareness and address the obstacles preventing you from achieving your goal.
Make the necessary changes to keep you on track towards your goals.
Remember, if you get ‘stuck’ on any of the above points, feel free to contact me by clicking on the website below.
SMARTGoals
You may have heard the term ‘SMART’ goal. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, Time-bound. You may want to make your goal SMARTER by adding Exciting/Ethical and Resourced!
Exercise
Start by writing a list of your dreams and desires. You may wish to revise this over a couple of days.
Discover which are the most important to you at this time – try putting them in order!
Choose one goal to start with, and make it SMARTER.
Go For It
Completed a goal? Give yourself a pat on the back – and go for the next one!
Appreciate What You Have
Have you ever been guilty of thinking, ‘things will be ok when…’? I know most of us have.
The problem with this kind of thinking is that it effectively puts our happiness on hold for a later date. Not only that, it encourages us to be in ‘effect’ – to rely on outside influences to be the source of comfort. The problem with being in ‘effect’ is that you give up control and give up creating life the way you really want it.
Sales Training Solution
Sales training solves by appreciating what we have and where we are, right now, in this moment. If we have little, we can still appreciate what we do have. If we find ourselves in a difficult situation, we can appreciate the lessons to be learned and the chance to improve.
It takes practice, but finding yourself living in the present moment, appreciating what you have, is a goal worth aiming for.
Exercise
Start by appreciating yourself. Every morning when you brush your teeth, look at yourself in the mirror. Look yourself in the eye and tell yourself three things you like about you. It may feel awkward at first but keep it up and you’ll reap the benefits.
How to Close Twice the Sales Leads with One-Third Effort
Being rejected is never pleasant. But there are actions we can take to ensure the situation teaches us what we need to learn, and attitudes we can learn to help us in any situation. Here are a few suggestions from Business Sales Expert.
Avoid Taking it Personally
A lot of the time, the rejection isn’t about you. If you didn’t get a promotion, it could be that the person who got it had slightly different experience or skills. If someone doesn’t talk to you at a party, perhaps they are just shy. Be prepared to consider the possibility that it’s not about you. Regardless whether it is or isn’t about you …
Learn From Your Mistakes
Ask yourself: What could I have done differently? What do I know now that I didn’t know then?
Learning is the fastest way not to commit the same mistakes again. This helps you to …
Know Yourself
To learn from your mistakes you need to be honest with yourself. Be open with someone you trust. Explore how you honestly feel. You may come to realise that the situation you were in wasn’t the best choice after all, and you are now free to explore what is.
Once you have a new awareness about yourself, it’s time for …
Action
Keep going! Get out there and welcome the new opportunities coming your way. Put those new lessons into action, test them out.
Dealing with Setbacks
What do you do when something doesn’t turn out like you expect?
Perhaps initially you shrug something off as bad luck. But what happens when a setback occurs again and again? Are you tempted to give up? Or do you struggle on?
Albert Einstein once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.
Perhaps it’s time for a change of tactic.
Step Back and Look at the Problem
Are you too closely involved with your problem to see the solutions? Take a break, talk to someone appropriate, or even look at it as though it were someone else’s problem. A change in perspective may be all you need to keep moving.
Evaluate Where You Are At
What do you have? What do you want? Define both the problem and the goal. The problem may be smaller than you first thought, and once defined, a solution is much easier to come by.
Evaluate the Intangible
What are your beliefs and attitudes about your issue? What are the consequences of these beliefs and attitudes? How useful are they to your situation?
Get Expert Help
Sometimes you need an business sales expert advice. They may be able to guide you in your decisions on where you need to go next, make suggestions you had never thought of, and give that bit of encouragement you need.
Restaurants in Sydney
Tetsuya’s
Routinely voted the best restaurants in Sydney, Australia and possibly Asia Pacific. If you are food lover, this is the temple you must visit but it’s very expensive and you will need to book well ahead. Tetsuya’s new location now has the site matching the stunning calibre of the food.
Cost: 12 course set dinner, A$170, but believe it or not, it’s BYO.
Location: 529 Kent St, Sydney NSW 2000
Ph:(02) 9267 2900
Bather’s Pavilion
Recently redone and sadly it has now lost some of its original fantastic charm but the food is wonderful and it sits right on Balmoral Beach (north, across the Harbour Bridge). Wonderful spot and if you’d like to save a bit of dosh, go for breakfast at the cafe instead of the main restaurants.
Cost: A$100+ per person. Open seven days.
Location: 4 The Esplanade, Balmoral Beach.
Ph: (02) 9969-5050.
MG Garage
This unlikely theme restaurant (your table is likely be situated among stunning MG’s of all styles and ages, all for sale), actually has fantastic food. The vegetarian is as good as the mainstream and everything is done with great care, style and thought. Service is also great.
Cost: A$130 for two. Open Mon-Sat.
Location: 490 Crown St, Surry Hills.
Ph: (02) 9383-9383
Salt
Great food and wine list, trendy spot, good bar next door if you have to wait for a table. Near Kings Cross.
Location: 229 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst
(02) 9332 2566
Other Greats:
Level 41 for amazing views
Pier
Banc
Rockpool
Best Restaurants with city and/or water views:
Guillaume @ Bennelong, Opera House
How can you beat a beautiful spot that is part of the Sydney’s best-known landmark? It looks over the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House as well as Circular Quay where you can watch the ferries come in. Great bar, too, for a drink and/or light meal before or after a performance at the Opera House.
Cost: A$130 for two.
Location: Sydney Opera House.
Ph: (02) 9241 1999
The Boathouse at Blackwattle Bay
Select from the oyster menu (a variety of oysters from around Australia) and/or have the fresh crab starter in a coriander sauce (amazing!). The snapper pie is a national favourite. Beautiful views of the city, relaxed atmosphere. Pricey but great wine list. One of my favourites.
Cost: A$100 for two with wine. Don’t be put off by the entrance.
Locaton: End of Ferry Rd, Glebe.
Ph: (02) 9518-9011
Bather’s Pavilion (see above).
The Wharf
Less expensive water view option with good food and a nice, inexpensive wine list. The Wharf is a long walk down a big pier – good exercise before and after the meal. It’s attached to the Wharf Theatre, which is above it so book and/or go after eight to avoid the theatre crowd and you’re sure to get a table. Beautiful views over north Sydney. Tip: have a drink at the Horizon Room at the ANA (see below) and walk over to the Wharf for dinner after. Ask for a table on the window.
Cost: A$75 for two.
Location: Pier 4, Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay.
Ph: (02) 9250-1761.
Icebergs
Just opened and currently THE place to be, the new Icebergs restaurant has million dollar views out to sea and along Bondi Beach and delicious food to match. Book early and if you can’t get in, have a drink at the groovy 70s inspired bar instead.
Cost: $130 for two with wine.
Location: 1 Nott’s Ave, Bondi Beach
Ph: (02) 9365-9000
Hugo’s at Bondi Beach
Great, unusual food, great drinks, amazing view over Bondi Beach, very trendy – the beautiful people love it. It’s expensive for Bondi but consistently good. Small, so best to book.
Cost: A$100 for two with wine.
Location: 70 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach.
Ph: (02) 9300-0900.
Aqua Dining
Across the Bridge so take the ferry, overlooking a beautiful pool and Luna Park. Expensive, but good food.
Location: Cnr Northcliffe & Paul Sts, Milsons Point
Ph: (02) 9964 9998
Le Kiosk, Shelly Beach, Manly.
Take the ferry over, walk to Shelly Beach for a great seafood lunch at Le Kiosk and ferry back. They also do fantastic fish and chips to take away and eat on the beach if you’d like a less expensive option.
Cost: A$80 for two.
Location: 1 Marine Parade, Shelly Beach, Manly.
Ph: (02) 9977-4122.
Aqua Bar
For breakfast or lunch right off the Beach at Bondi. Rock up in your “cossie” before or after a swim. Try the black sticky rice with grilled banana and coconut mild. Inexpensive.
Location: along Campbell Parade. Just walk north along the beach until you get toward the end. It’s right there on the corner.
The cafe at Tamarama Beach
Inexpensive and right on the beach.
For all the best information on dining in Sydney, we recommend: www.sydneycafes.com.au
Treat your feet – treat your self
Sydney reflexologist DORIS LITZKI writes about her specialist therapy ~ and how reflexology for your feet may appreciate a bit more love …
Ever thought about your hard working feet?
How they manage to get you from A to B all day every day without much complaint?
Right from the word go when you wake, your feet emerge from under the warm doona only to feel the cold floor. Then the trip to the bathroom barefooted.
After a few more drastic temperature changes they reach the shower, and out again, followed by a rushed step outside to fetch the morning paper over the wet lawn and back in again.
And we wonder when a sudden headache arises out of nowhere?
Foot Neglect is Self Neglect
Now the hurdle with the choice of shoes.
For some so narrow, so pointy, so high the feet can only gasp, hardly any room to move let alone air to breathe.
They are locked in for the next 10 hours straight without mercy, ending in red squashy, exhausted looking feet.
Blisters from new shoes count as extras, complementary of course, are the last straw the feet have to battle with.
How will you be feeling?
Mistreat your feet and you mistreat yourself.
Foot Love is Self Love
Consider a friendlier way and start treating your feet with kindness.
Remember they are your only ones. No chance for a second set that will grow miraculously when the old ones are written off!
So take a good look at your feet, give them a regular rub, footbath or massage, use reflexology when you need, and choose your footwear wisely. A small effort will bring you benefits ten fold.
Well treated feet equals a well treated you.
By doing good to your feet you’re doing good to yourself, combining body mind and spirit.
Reflexology grows in popularity each year. People queue for their turn at one of the many health expos in Sydney.
Five Thousand Years
Reflexology? What’s that?
Reflexology is a holistic and non invasive therapy dating back approx 5000 years. It works on the principle that the body is mapped on the feet, hands and ears.
Applied pressure on certain areas of the feet triggers a physical reaction which then stimulates the body’s own healing potential.
Reflexology promotes balance in the whole of your being.
Seven Thousand Endings
As the feet have more than 7000 nerve endings they respond well to reflexology.
Reflexology is not only balancing and soothing for the feet, it is calming and balancing the whole body.
A stress free body is more resilient to illness and maintains good health.
Treating your feet is treating your self.
Why not give it a fair go!
Where Do You Get Reflexology?
For any enquiries or bookings you can contact Doris
(02) 9747 2255 or email feetenhance@optusnet.com.au
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